I just wanted to post some comments. We had our Gay pride in March and for a conservative city like Phoenix I do think this is an important event. We have a Gay mayor in Tempe, a gay state representative and a gay person in the state congress (all of them republican). A lot of people think its kind of unecessary to have an event celebrating gay pride, just like it would be unecessary having an event celebrating heterosexuality. The gay pride parade isn't necessarily an event celebrating homosexuality as it is an event demonstrating what gays have accomplished, particularly in a society where many of us feel invisible. How would you feel if you lived in a society where you felt uncomfortable holding hands in public with your boyfriend or girlfriend, where the very acknowledgement of who you're married to or dating could lead to you being fired? How would you like them apples? A lot of people here have NO idea what gay ex-JW's have had to go through. It is a living hell being made to feel alone, neglected, dejected, particularly from your own family. A lot of you might not realize this but gay people and ex-JW's have a lot in common. This years "gay pride" theme is "For one day, feel like the majority", how often did you feel like the majority in the Borg? How much more so now? If anything, the society wouldn't care two whits if all ex-JW's disappeared from the panet, and believe me, a lot of people feel the same way about gay people. This is the one day of the year where I can feel absolutely comfortable visually acknolwedging my love for people of the same sex, where I can walk down central Phoenix without any fear of personal violence. In the years to come, the parade will progressively lose meaning as long as society as a whole continues to accept gay people as a very real, visible part of our society. But until then, "We're here, we're queer, get use to it! We're here, we left the Borg, get use to it!"