Gay pride parades

Con hasn't given any credible points to why there shouldn't be gay pride parades. Con has simply stated a point without giving any reasoning or sources to back up his points. First of all, there are straight pride events which emerged after the LGBT community were starting their own parades or similar events (see [s1]). From this then, Con's one and only point without any argument backing it up in the start of round 2 has been refuted and shown to be false. Secondly, even if straight people wouldn't celebrate their heterosexuality, it wouldn't follow that therefore it'd be wrong for people to celebrate being gay. There's nothing wrong with celebrating who you are, and similarly, there is absolutely nothing stopping straight people from doing the same and neither is wrong in itself; it's their reasons for doing it where their alternative motives lie. In my own view, gay pride parades are extremely positive in the following ways. Firstly, it allows one particular group of people who exist in our society to celebrate who they are and to celebrate being a part of the melting pot of what makes us up and makes our society especially such a diverse and interesting one. It is celebrating and acknowledging that different people aren't something to be feared and that love and happiness is all they want to promote at such events. Secondly, it also allows people who otherwise thought it wrong or even dangerous to come out about being gay to have a community of people who they can relate to in that way. It's a very good thing for allowing people to come to terms with who they are and realising that they're normal even if they're different to other people. We're all different to one another in some way, and differences should be celebrated. Thirdly, the motives of gay pride parades are clear. They emerged around the 50s and 60s (along with other gay pride events or groups for example) in the USA especially to help break down "social stigma"[s2] toward LGBT people. It was seen as a "mental illness"[s2] around these times until things such as gay pride parades and other events helped break down the social barriers against these people. Their motivation, summed up, was to help get it out to the public and help get seen in the public eye that gay people do exist, and it isn't a bad thing. Their motives certainly weren't and aren't now to try and force people to be gay as some people have commented on with ignorance on the subject. Even if it is different, it shouldn't be seen as an illness but as something they cannot control (as anyone cannot control who they find sexually attractive). Straight pride parades, as I have shown, aren't doing this. They aren't celebrating being straight just for that meaning, but their primary goal is a kind of backlash to something they see as negative and threatening. They use their apparent pride in being straight as a cloak for their fear and/or hatred of gay people. There are no straight pride events I can think of that would have formed without being formed to be against LGBT events (as the history of straight pride events has shown to reflect). Con has to show why these events are harmful and also refute my points in order to be much more persuasive in his arguments. Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org... [s1] http://en.wikipedia.org... [s2]