That's partly due to the fact that historically the gay community has been pushed into the shadows and treated like criminals, so they always got the shadier scummier bars and drugdealers and stuff.  Back when gay bars would get raided by homophobic cops constantly so they could just beat gays all night, the mafia would take over and offer protection.  This meant safety, but it also meant like $15 beers in the 60s.

There are many cleaner safer friendlier gay bars around today though.  You just gotta find 'em.

There are also straight bars that are that scummy and straight scenes all about casual sex and drugs that I avoid too.

But I understand where you're coming from, and that's one of the horrible image problems the gay community's been dealing with forever.

Just as strange as saying "I'm white and i'm proud" or "I'm male and i'm proud"

I'm not saying there's a double standard, but saying it just comes across all wrong.

I get what you're saying, but I think you're overly focused on the sex. Now, I can only speak for myself, but I think the pride is more about of standing up for who you are and what you represent despite the discrimination and prejudice you might be subjected to. 

I'm not proud of my sexuality, that's just simply something I'm born with, but I'm proud that I dare to be who I truly am and not pretending to be someone else just to "fit in". I think all people who bring down barriers and defy boundaries should be proud of themselves, because that's the way the world moves on, wether it's in art, science, technology or just in everyday life or whatever. Dare to be different!

Ah well, that's my 2 cents anyway.

Well, I'm willing to keep myself out of the running to be a judge for said dispute...

Nah, I know I'm not. I always say that for a gay guy, I got cheated out of all the useful stereotypes. I've no gaydar, I have no fashion (or fine food) sense, and my home decor style isn't elegant. (My home decor style actually is Tetris- where can I put it!?) But I am who I am, and I don't plan on changing.

Also, as to not make a myriad of posts, I'll address a few other things here. The "scene" is one of the things that scares me, actually. I'm a hard-line anti-drug person, I'm mildly allergic to cigarette smoke, and alcohol tastes nasty. But... I don't know where to go that doesn't involve at least one of those things. Ideally, I would like to find a guy and settle down with him- none of this playing the field stuff. That's the hardest part for me. I've no problem telling people I'm gay, but it's just getting out there. And to make it more ironic, DC's just a hop on the Metro away, so it's not like I wouldn't have access...

Regarding bisexuality, I've no problems understanding it. It gives one the best of both worlds, and in fact, I use a scale similar to Freud's scale for determining one's sexuality. I've seen myself slide on this scale... from straight to bi-curious, etc over to where I am now. While I do believe a 'true' bisexual is rare, I know they exist. (Defining 'true' bisexual as someone who, given 2 identical people except for their gender, can't choose between them.) It took me a few years admittingly to know that my use of bisexual was a mask, but as I was behind it, I know it's not a mask for some others. If anything, though, my envy doesn't lie with the sexuality, but for those who found out about themselves early. I didn't even accept myself until I was... 21, and it took me 18 months to come out from there. Looking back, I think I do see signs of people making passes at me, but well... that's in hindsight, and my foresight for things like that was never good, even before this revelation of myself.

Oh, and yes, the kissing is cute. And it makes me jealous... :P

Straight pride, white pride, or male pride would just be status quo pride.  And that's boring.  Hahaha.

And you can kind of think of ALL media as a straight pride parade.  There are tons of reality shows about straight people getting drunk in hot tubs and dating 50 people at once and deciding who to marry.  There's a billboard right around here that's a gigantic naked woman barely covering her breasts.  I don't even know what it's advertising for, but any time I walk down that street there's a giant naked woman staring at me.  And half the buses I see are advertising girls in their underwear shaving their giant curvy bus-long legs.  I'm basically drowning in heterosexuality everywhere I go, and I live in one of the gayest areas around.

That made me LOL!!!!!

Edit - you might like to know at the moment some of the billboards and buses in this country have  "people are gay, get over it" splashed all over them

Haha, haven't seen those billboards. That's a GREAT slogan.

I hope you are honest and telling the truth here.

Big respect.

Yup what I said is the truth

The kissing is cute, regardless of what anyone say!

@ some guy before, It is difficult to get in on the "scene" when one is not a naturally inclined party animal. Find someone on manhunt or something :P

@Roma, Lots of gay guys have 'wished the could be straight' at one point or another. I got kicked out of home a few years ago by my mother when i came out. I had come to terms with the fact that i was gay by that point, but up until i had started to truly understand who i was, I was dreadfully confused.
It is societies pressures trying to change us from who we are, to who society thinks we ought to be.
Now i am surrounded with positive, loving people, and everything is so much easier.