I am a misanthrope.
This comes as no big surprise to anyone who knows me well. People, in general, simply piss me off. And large crowds of them piss me off exponentially. So why was I at Denver Pride yesterday, in the midst of a crowd large enough to pass for an emerging nation? Habit, I suppose. I always go to the parade despite my misgivings about assimilation and the increasingly corporate nature of the event.
At times, straight-run businesses and corporations seem to have overrun Pride - especially at the Festival in City Park at the end of the parade route - using our celebration as a tool for gathering that elusive and, in my case, mythical gay dollar. And I won't even go into my rant about the mixed message our GLBT Center sends when they spend big bucks all through the year on substance abuse programs for the queer population yet gladly accept sponsor dollars from Coors and Stoli for the beer and vodka tents.
That would be missing the point.
