Dallas – Fort Worth Atheists March in Gay Pride Parade | Hemant Mehta | Friendly Atheist

The Dallas – Fort Worth Coalition of Reason participated in the Dallas Gay Pride Parade this past weekend. Their group, including members of the Metroplex Atheists and the Fellowship of Freethought, included over 75 gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered, and straight allies.

Video is below (but it might have some NSFW images):

In case you’re wondering, Dr. Zachary Moore, the coordinator of the group, said there were, indeed, some religious people present at the parade:

There were a number of liberal churches that marched as well, including, notably, the Cathedral of Hope. Although they, like us, were promoting tolerance and inclusion, we were the only group doing that from a secular perspective, and it was pretty well received. It was really great to have such a positive response from the parade-watchers (not something we’re accustomed to), and also nice to meet some friendly liberal Christians.

Are any other groups planning to march in their local pride parades this year?

Anonymous

gays and atheists are natural allies, and the atheist community will find the strongest support from the gay community more than any other in this country. not all queers are freethinkers, but all of us have heard the horror stories from gay folk who came out to their religious families, and what resulted. i don’t think any of us lack a queer friend for whom coming out was made a living hell, because of religion.

nice to see the cooperation.
Morva Ádám

Equality and justice for all.
..That was the idea behind the USA, wasn’t it?
tardis_blue

I live in the midwest, in the middle of the bible belt. I only have one gay friend, and his family, while disgustingly fundie, have completely accepted him. Actually, most of the people I know who have had trouble coming out have been atheists, not gays. It’s always such a relief to find out someone you’re talking to is also an atheist, and isn’t going to start in on you!
Iain Grant

My band (a radical marching band) crashes the Pride Parade every June. We just show up, sneak into line and march.
Anonymous

Ask a fundie if it is OK to deprive a citizen the right to visit a loved one in the hospital or deny inheritance to a citizen and they usually say no, of course not. Ask the same questions, only substitute gay person for citizen and you often get a different answer.

I have a friend who recently started a business and applied for a small business loan with his partner. California has same sex domestic partnership laws, which in theory should have made this a simple process, but it wasn’t. Turns out one part of the legal system was changed, but some other departments weren’t and the loan was denied because in that second department a domestic partner was not the same as a married spouse. My friend was forced to fill out new paperwork and reapply by himself. Its the little unseen things like this that people don’t consider when they vote against marriage eguality. They are voting based on religious dogma instead of secular rights.

My wife and I are strong supporters of gay rights. I am happy to see a positive response to the Dallas Gay Pride Parade.
Anonymous

Love the video, though I could do without the siezure inducing starsbursts in the intro and outro.

I missed pride this year because I was helping friends move house. It’s a huge event here (literally, around 1.5 million people is typical lately) and by far the greatest party all year. Since Spain has had full equality for years now it’s not much of a protest, really. Some day, the inequality of gays will be a distant memory and these events will go away. It’ll be a worthwhile loss of course, but a loss nonetheless. Teh gays can throw a hell of a party!
dauntless

“Actually, most of the people I know who have had trouble coming out have been atheists, not gays.”

But you only have one gay friend.

The truth is, your anecdote about your gay friend is atypical.
David Hayward

I was there. LOVED IT!
clima_rai

I wish our local atheist group would do this. At the Cincinnati 2011 Pride Parade there were between one and two dozen churches marching…it was so bizarre because in 2007 there were only three or four churches.
clima_rai

I wish our local atheist group would do this. At the Cincinnati 2011 Pride Parade there were between one and two dozen churches marching…it was so bizarre because in 2007 there were only three or four churches.
Michael Appleman

To be fair, I know alot more people than just my friends. So I would assume he does too.
Erp

Atheists marched in the San Francisco parade
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJy7V-qqZdw
Amy G

The Triangle Freethought Society will be participating in NC Pride this weekend, along with several other atheist groups around the triangle area. We have built an enormous FSM to march through the parade. We have done Pride for the last 2 years and have always been very well received. This year we’ve decided to break the various atheist groups up and scatter them throughout the parade, so that our presence is as numerous as the churches.
Anonymous

tardis blue, you may be right, i haven’t looked at hard stats on these issues in a long while. but my point was simply that every queer person knows another who has been cast out from family, community, church, etc., for coming out as gay. while this is also true for many atheists, it’s not discussed or known as much. the atheist community is a lot like the queer community except for one thing: we don’t have things like Pride or PFLAG or Lamda. not yet, at least.

gay people are where black people where about 50 years ago, on the brink of a huge civil rights movement victory that will last once and for all. atheists are the next group that will experience that, but we’re still decades behind ethnic, religious and sexual minorities. for atheists, it’s about 1950 and right now it’s only the trendsetters and youth leaders who see us as deserving fully equal rights and freedoms, but it’s changing. slowly, but still.
Anonymous

Unfortunately my city does not have a gay-pride parade (even though we’re large enough to have one). I’m happy to hear the Dallas-Forth Worth atheists marched in the pride parade. In the south, it’s SO common to find LGBT people who are religious and being an atheist, I’ve had my fair share of girls turn me down because I’m an atheist. You’d think the LGBT community (a community that experiences a lot of discrimination) would be more accepting but eh, it just shows me the gay community is just a microcosm of larger society.
Dale Cope

The BC Humanist Association, with CFI, marched in the Vancouver Pride Parade back in July.