In plain sight - 'Are Pride Parades Kid-Friendly? Parents Say Children Can Handle The Kink'

[EweSurname]

The post asked parade participants not to “sexualize” Pride and to leave their fetish and kink at home, for the sake of minors.

A reasonable request, one might have thought. But no.

“At some level this has always been part of a much larger debate of what Pride is,” David Rayside, a retired politics and sexual diversity professor at the University of Toronto, told HuffPost Canada. “Pride has always had a kind of outrageous edge to it. And should we alter that? It is not the Santa Claus parade, and it never was. It shouldn’t be. It can’t be.”

[...]Putting on her sex therapist hat, Ren emphasized that Pride, from kink to nakedness, is an excellent opportunity for parents to do unbiased sex education. Bergman also pointed out that many children don’t even interpret most of what they’re seeing in a Pride parade as sexual, but rather as dress-up or fun.

The whole point of kink is that it's sexual, surely? Why are children encouraged to view sexual content? Calling it "dress-up" doesn't alter what it is.

www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/pride-parade-kid-friendly_ca_5d013916e4b0dc17ef03287b

"The whole point of kink is that it's sexual, surely? Why are children encouraged to view sexual content? Calling it "dress-up" doesn't alter what it is."
BUT that is only true because you and the particpant know that that is what those clothes/costume means. As long as someone isn't exposing parts of their body that should not be exposed, or having sex in the street, then it is just a costume, and if kids can be told just that "it's a costume, dress-up" then what is wrong with that? Okay, a rubber fetish suit adorned with multi-coloured dildoes might be a bit of a stretch................

If you have lesbian mums with kids (which used to be the main source of kids at Pride), then they presumably know the scene, and have already figured out how to explain to kids, the problem in my experience is straight folks with kids who thought it was just a fun family day out, and didn't really realise they might have to deal with little ones asking 'Mummy, why are there two ladies kissing? Mummy, why does that man have a cowboy outfit on but he's forgotten his trousers! Can I have a leather cowboy outfit like that............'. Mind you, even I was a bit stumped by a large black dildo the size and shape of a traffic cone, then you have to resort to 'it's a doorstop', or 'I don't know'.................

Pride is for straight people nowadays anyway.
The ones who believe in queer theory and are polyamorous, demiromantic otherkin. But who are basically straight with interesting hair.
Pride is a commercial endeavour like a one-day festival but with rainbows and sex toys instead of music and mud.
Whether they bring children or not, or commit indecent exposure or not, I leave for the straight people to organise amongst themselves

Oh I forgot, it's also a great opportunity for companies to make their products rainbow coloured and get woke points without doing anything

My son has gone to every Pride parade in my town since he was a baby bar one and he is now 9. It has bought up some conversations but not ones specifically about sexual fetishes. He understands it as a parade that came about due to gay/lesbian people being beaten up, put in prison and generally treated unfairly. If he has seen something a bit more risque than normal I just tell him what it is something grown ups may want to use during sex. This normally gets a pulled face reply and he is then distracted by the next part of the parade.

I don't expect anyone taking part in the parade to change what they wear because I choose to take my child along and for the most part it is just beautiful or funny costumes.

“At some level this has always been part of a much larger debate of what Pride is,”

He's right about this, it does.

Is it, in essence, about LGBT people's civil rights, or is it a coorporate-funded sex party where LGB is just one of many "kinks" on offer?

Children shouldn't have to learn to handle kinks any more than lesbians should have to learn to handle dick.

It was the kink that gave me pause. The celebration of different sexualities is what I'd assume was the whole point (so am baffled that some people would be taken aback by "Mummy, why are there two ladies kissing?" questions) but the photos of gimp suits and furries was what threw me.

I would be weirded out by kink being celebrated at a non-LGBT event that included children, but then maybe I don't understand kinks and was overreacting.

Children shouldn't have to learn to handle kinks..
That's the kicker isn't it, the split in the LGB plus nonsense, between sexual orientation, and sexual preferences. Orientation, it's there 100% of the time and you shouldn't have to hide it, sexual preferences and hence kink and the blue-haired straight folks who want to convince us they interesting and edgy, it's just a preference, and we don't all need to know. It's the difference between who you go buying cucumbers with, and what you do with them when you get home........

I will however defend the right of minority sexual orientations to dress-up as fabulously as they see fit on their day out, given that being visible was part of the reason for pride in the first place. But that doesn't mean the rest of the non-sexual orientation alphabet should use it as a day to parade their kink. Being lesbian or gay isn't a kink, and frankly we should stick to LGB. But the more the merrier for those who are making money out of this.........

it makes me think of Hannah Gadsby talking about sitting in Tasmania, where being homosexual was illegal until 1997, watching the Sidney price parade on TV and being told these were her people

she says that her favourite sound is a tea cup sliding home into it's saucer. I really doubt that people who like to wave giant dildos in the street are her people. they just share a sexual orientation.

Context is all.

Helga dressed up for Herr Flick in 'Allo 'Allo.

The quotes in that article which made me uncomfortable were:

Plus, as queer parents, it’s one of their cultural festivals, added Bergman, who who attends Toronto Pride every year with his kids.

“It’s their right as queer spawn. And as a parent, I might want to take my kids to Pride, because they might be lesbian, gay, bi, trans, queer or two-spirit.”

AND

“First of all, nobody likes nakedness more than children,” Bergman said.

“On the list of things that I don’t want my children ever to be exposed to are: Compulsory heterosexuality, demonstrations of sexism, demonstrations of racism, demonstrations of ablism, violence. These are all way higher on the list than some homosexual’s tuchus.”

Why do you need to parade around naked? Regardless of your sexuality?

“First of all, nobody likes nakedness more than children,” Bergman said

I saw that article too and was pretty horrified by that statement.

Go and watch some childrens tv / music/ dancing and you will see worse. The difference is that it is seen as 'normal' The LGBT are demonised because, even though people believe they are sympathetic, they still have underlying prejudices which colour their views.

Children liking to be naked (which mine did when little) is not the same as wanting to look at a stranger’s cock. I’m not sure that should need explaining really?

Go and watch some childrens tv / music/ dancing and you will see worse

I must have missed the dressing up in rubber gear on CBeebies

I know the bbc is going to hell in a handcart but...

Go and watch some childrens tv / music/ dancing and you will see worse.

I've never seen any of these on kids TV...

twitter.com/Gpalmer_32/status/1137434724140556289?s=19

I did some looking around and found a report about a debate at the Toronto District School Board about trying to get nudity banned in their local Pride parade--for the sake of the children, ya know. But the story makes it clear that there are some people who take their kids to the parade with full knowledge of what they'll see. So would the people who want to event toned down call that abusive parenting? I wonder if they'd have the nerve to say someone else's decisions about their children is harmful, but if they claim the demonstrations are harmful, it would be logical to say it.

nowtoronto.com/news/tdsb-votes-against-banning-nudity-at-toronto-pride-although-it-is-legal/

As for the parade participants, I think they have multiple motivations. One is to say that once they're out in the street, they don't just want to hold hands: they want to say "You think we're outrageous? We'll show you how outrageous we really are!" And it's a gathering of people who know they're a minority. For them it's a party, and a chance to show off for each other.

Want "the" event toned down...

I’d say wanting to be able to hold your partner’s hand in the street is somewhat different to wanting to be able to lead a mostly naked person around on a leash in the street

And if I was gay I’m not sure how happy I’d be about the conflation of the two

Some of the statements in the OP are pretty awful. But in terms of what you see, this is nothing new with Pride. I agree with the comment that the issue is really about the number of straight people with kids seeing it as a family day out.

I agree with the comment that the issue is really about the number of straight people with kids seeing it as a family day out

So it's ok for the children of gay / lesbian /bi parents?

No it is not okay for those children, but their parents know what to expect, so many do not see it as a family friendly event.
And way in the past children at pride were not common, and were mainly kids of lesbians.

The kink stuff and nakedness is not suitable for public places, whether children are present or not. Keep it at home or in the clubs that are licensed for that kind of thing, which should be adults only.

I can remember 15 years ago a lesbian relative saying she would not be going to local pride as she would not take her kid there.
Pride started off as a political/campaigning thing. It then morphed into a street party/getting drunk thing.
I think Pride is in general no more suitable for kids than an 18-30 party.