Philadelphia Pride?

Ah, Gay Pride. That time of year when we commemorate the "homophiles" protesting at Independence Hall, risking their careers and reputations to be who they were, by getting blackout drunk and having lots and lots of anonymous sex.

We've come so far.

This year's Philadelphia Gay Pride will host the Village People. But hold your judgment until you consider the fact that we hosted The Apprentice's volatile Omarosa Manigault, the reality television personality and media whore who referred to the equally irrelevant Bethany Frankel's husband as "gay."

That was our Pride last year.

Some may find the Village people outdated, even offensively stereotypical, but they're more relevant to Pride than you think. In 1977 the Village People were the gay answer to the Monkeys, a lighthearted answer to a dozen boy bands who copied the Beatles. Whether or not any members of the Village People were out when they began is still a source of contention. The notion of homosexuality in the 1970s is vastly different than it is today. What does matter is that these characters were portraying gay men at a time when doing so was taboo. And at the time, despite the stereotypes they portrayed, they were portraying them in a positive and popular light.

They were trailblazers.

Still, Gay Pride events are not a source of talent nor one of true advocacy. They've been rendered down to the equivalent of a St. Patrick's Day parade, an excuse to drink in the street. Umpteen nonprofit organizations have taken the helm of advocacy, including our own Equality Forum, and those who perform at Pride Festivals are akin to Dancing With the Stars contestants. It means their careers are over, or at best irrelevant.

Philadelphia's Pride Parade and Festival is uniquely irrelevant given our city's Outfest block party every October that draws more locals than drunken teens. Perhaps that's a good thing. Were Philadelphia's Pride Festival more than a blip on the local media's radar it's parade of sex fueled debauchery and piss poor drag queens might do more harm than good for the community.

Of course the fact that more than a handful of protestors routinely turn out for the festival just points to how irrelevant any city's Pride has become. As Lisa Simpson said, "You do this every year, we are used to it!"

"Spoil sport."