Do we really need Pride Parades? On the surface this may appear a controversial question and raise some ire among gay people, our Apollo Men included. (At Right: Michelangelo's Bacchus, 1497, Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence.)

But consider the following:

1. When pride parades were first organized circa 1970s/80s, it was an entirely different world than now. No one dreamed of legal gay marriage. Gay people just wanted fairness under the law and civil rights extended to all people, regardless of their sexual behavior.

Now in many places Gay people may legally marry and raise their own children, and some of these gay parents are loath to expose their children to the excesses of pride parades. They maintain that straight people do not take their children to the bacchanal excesses at Mardi Gras. Such a couple have written about it in an Huffington Post article: Where is my Martin Luther Queen?

2. An Apollo Poll about Pride Parades last year showed that of those who took the poll:

16% went to a gay parade in 2008.
39% expressed interest in going.
45% said not now or ever would they go.

The interpretation of a poll is up for grabs. I suspect a lot of those in the 45% range were gay men married to women. My guess is that as married gay men decrease and married gay couples increase, the political usefulness of gay pride parades will diminish, and their entertainment value will be in the hands of people more given more to having fun than being involved in politics.

3. On the plus side, Pride Parades will continue their value in countries where gay people are suppressed, Russia, China, and maybe one day Iran?

As always, your comments, pro or con, are welcomed and appreciated.