Month: October 2023

Aside from the combination of colors making me want to vomit… It kept reminding me of something, I just couldn’t place what I was being reminded of.

With the attack by Hamas on Israel, I connected the dots.

The geometry of the new pride flag reminds me of the Hamas Palestinian flag.

It’s bad enough that if you put four of the new Pride flags together you get a swastika, or that there was someone in England who was arrested for publishing an image from someone else showing that it was true. 

I thought England had freedom of speech…

Oh RIGHT! They only have freedom of speech as long as nothing they say could ever in any way be taken offensively, by anyone in perpetuity.

In other words, our English brethren may not speak, they may only use their mouths to eat.

Hate speech laws seem to be a growing standard, people are trying to push hate speech laws even in America.

I’m amused and astounded when comedians have routines from decades ago reviewed and scrutinized by the new humorless thought police.

Then when offense is found, (as it always is,) the comedians must apologize for something that no-one 20 years ago thought was anything but funny.

By todays standards though, “It” is offensive enough that the scolds in our society try to cancel whoever said or did this offensive thing.

I doubt seriously that any of these all too easily offended people were offended when half their genome was hanging in their daddy’s balls waiting to be jacked down a toilet! A lot of these humorless scolds should have been loads their momma’s swallowed. 

That’s just my opinion… It’s probably reflective of just how tired I’ve become of the perpetually aggrieved. The new pride flag is a symbol of the perpetually aggrieved, and in many ways the Hamas flag is the same.

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The Palestinians have been pissed off about something or other for God only knows how long. They’re pissed at Israel over things like power, water, and productive farmland. I’m sure there are other political reasons but I honestly don’t remember and don’t care anymore. I suppose Israel maintains a secure border which hampers Palestinian terror attacks on school busses. That for sure, is going to piss off a bunch of terrorists!

I don’t want to get into discussing the war. I hope Israel wins. And since they’ve been accused and punished for all manner of atrocities… They might as well commit a few in their march to the sea.

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I ran across this diagram that supposedly explained the variations of pride flags.

Right off the bat I noticed a couple of historical omissions. They completely erased two of the three most common flags.

At one time, there were just three LGB Pride Flags.

There was the standard 6 color rainbow everyone is familiar with. There was the Bear Flag that came after the rainbow and there was the Leather flag.

The Bear flag was representative of men who, at the time didn’t feel that they needed to shave their chests, or adhere to the smooth muscle boy image that had become so popular and indeed almost necessary if you happened to be a gay man.

The Bear flag represented men who might not be the ideal weight, who might have and like having beards, who might be as hairy on their backs as they were on their chests and who weren’t ashamed of it. The Bear Flag, like the rainbow flag was counter culture, it was counter culture against the main stream gay culture of the time.

The Leather pride flag was much the same. It represented the crowd within the LGB community that liked a bit more spice in their sex life. They too were underrepresented at the time. Dating was difficult, because they’d chat up a prospective bed partner only to find out that their “Date” for the night was only interested in vanilla missionary sex.

Don’t get me wrong, vanilla missionary sex is fine, but if you’re wanting a little more variety and all you have to choose from are missionaries you’re going to get bored pretty fast.

For years, (At least a decade) you’d see the rainbow flag everywhere in the “Gay Ghettos”. But some bars would fly the Bear Pride flag or the Leather Pride flag and those flags served to welcome folks who identified as one or the other community. Sometimes, it was just a matter of going into a bar that was flying what you were into, that particular night.

Some bars used the flag to advertise themed nights. So the same bar might on one night fly a Leather flag, then a few nights later a Bear flag. This was really convenient if you were driving down a crowded street because you knew at a glance what was up and where. It made fighting for parking easier.

It’s not unusual for there to be a bit of crossover between the bear and leather community too. But if you went to a bar flying only the Leather Pride flag, expect to be surrounded by men in leather who’d likely be willing to take you to Kinky Town for the weekend!

Likewise with the Bear Pride flag, be prepared to be mauled, cuddled, touched, and be welcome to return all the above to furry mellow cuddly strangers.

Why is it that some folks want to erase parts of gay culture?

How is that inclusive?

Could it be that Bears, and Leather men once again don’t fit the narrative? You know, because they are CIS gendered, happy with who they are and not super worried about marching lockstep with a community that no longer represents them?

I actually see opportunity in the new flag versus the old flag.  I’m wondering if the standard 6 color flag will come to represent the LGB community once again?

It might be nice to get back to just 3 flags, and knowing that if you went to a bar flying the old flags, you’re likely to meet people who are more like you.

Maybe the folks under the old flags would be a bit more settled, a bit more conservative, and similarly uncomfortable with the direction the, LGBTQX+… whatever the fuck else they’ve added, are heading.

I’m planning on attending Leather Pride weekend in Palm Springs, (At least one day,) I’ll be avoiding the establishments with the new gay flag. My trip out there might be very short. I’m hoping that I can find at least one oasis and sit under the old rainbow flag with a drink in my hand one last time.

More optimistically, I’m hoping that I’ll be having that drink as the first of many, under the old flags with people who think and feel the way I do.