Gay Pride :: LGBT talent need only apply?

Recently Republican candidate Carl Paladino made LGBT pride parades front-page news by criticizing what he deemed their overt R-rated content (i.e. floats with dancing boys in Speedos that he found offensive). His comments aside, pride events (and such the floats in the parades) have become as American as apple pie - an opportunity to bring the community together in a show of solidarity for the struggles and adversity that has faced LGBT members in the past and currently are facing today. What started as a parade has now turned into huge entertainment summertime events across the country that attracts big name performers.

But this past summer as various cities celebrated Pride with celebrities from Kristine W to the Backstreet Boys, a debate boiled up. Rather than having just gay-friendly performers headline these events, some advocates are pushing for a change to making Pride strictly for out entertainers. The argument is that out performers should be getting these high profile gigs, while those who oppose say that the event promoters are giving the audience what they want, no matter what the performers' orientation. Nonetheless some performers have said that orientation does play a part, not only in whether a performer should play, but also how they are treated.

It all begins with Stonewall

In the summer of 1969, the Stonewall raid and riots occurred, ushering in the start of the modern LGBT civil rights movement. From there the idea for a pride parade springs up, with the first gay pride march occurring on June 28, 1970. Marches were organized in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Chicago and were politically motivated.

"A lot of people are unclear on the purpose of the pride parade. Ostensibly, the purpose is to show pride in a community that has had a lot of shame. Pride is the opposite prong of that," explained Dr. Joseph Hawkins, President of the ONE National Gay and Lesbian archives.

The original incantation of the pride parades lasts only a few years due to incidents like the "cockapillar" float in Los Angeles, involving a Chinese dragon like float in the shape of a penis. The following year, 1973, the parade was cancelled in L.A. As the years have progressed the scale and focus of pride events have changed and evolved. Over the last four decades, the number and sizes of pride events have grown from being merely a parade to events consisting of both a parade and a daylong festival filled with musical acts, standup comedy, and various other activities. As the years have passed, the meaning behind the events has also grown.

"The community and the world have changed. Initially [the parades were] to comment on the Stonewall uprising and demand social equality. When you get further on in years, different political issues arise. By 1978 there is a regrouping around different issues, Proposition 6," said Hawkins referring to the 1978 ballot initiative (also known as the Briggs Amendment) that proposed banning gays from teaching school. In the 1980s, Hawkins continued, HIV and AIDS became the focal issue. But now, he says, "There is a different issue - In my opinion the parade is less about political issues and more and more sort of a community wide event (for people) to go and enjoy themselves."

Are Out performers in?

With thousands of attendees at pride events, it's a great platform to get a message out. It also allows musicians to play for a wider audience than they might not get the opportunity to perform in front of otherwise.

Like many things, choosing which artists perform at the pride events comes down to dollars and cents, and eyeballs. In order to maximize the number of people who are going to stay to watch the entertainers the promoters need someone with marquee value. Without having an A-list out personality (a Kristine W or Margaret Cho, for instance), some say that isn't going to happen. However, a solution offered is to package gay friendly entertainment with both gay-friendly and openly gay performers.

For Barbara Meyer, a booking agent from Admire Entertainment (whose roster includes filmmaker John Waters and the comedian ANT). having a show with a A-list, gay friendly headliner is a plus. "If you have a big name, it's going draw in people." But she adds, "It's got to work back and forth, and one way is to open the show with a gay singing group or comic."

But not everyone believes that by placing an out artist before the headliner, the out artist is going to get the full benefit.

"I think it definitely gives them (the out artist) more exposure, but I don't think it opens doors really. Again, I don't know about opening doors because a lot of people are coming to see the more mainstream act and not much else," said singer and former American Idol hopeful Danny Noriega.

Philadelphia Pride's executive director and entertainment chair Franny Price takes the argument one step further by saying that people at Pride don't want to see an artist performing their own music. She says that unless an act is doing cover music, the audience will tune out - or worse leave the performance area. In fact for her headliners in Philadelphia she skips booking the musical acts and opts for a comedian to headline.

"Philly loves to be entertained. A gay pride festival is different than a music festival. Gay people are the most opinionated audience there is. If you have a female impersonator up there, you have to be really, really good," said Price. "And if you pick a local band I guarantee you will lose the crowd."

Choosing the artists

The process in which an artist is selected to perform at an event by a Pride committee is something that many people don't understand. San Francisco Pride's Executive Director Amy Andre laid out how they go about hiring their acts. This year the Backstreet Boys served as Grand Marshalls in the parade as well as performed at the event, which only added fuel to the flames for some out only advocates.

We, in terms of how we get who performs, take suggestions from members of the public and we take suggestions from our members. Our board of directors says here is our wish list for who we would like to see perform on the stage," Andre outlined. "The main thing is looking for a diverse group of performances. We had over a dozen or two dozen acts. We look for diversity in demographic, artistry, and musical genre. That is kind of the key thing for us. In our policy we don't take sexual orientation or gender identity into account."

With the process that is used explained, it is not something that most people are aware of commonly.

"I imagine they feel a responsibility to keep the crowd entertained. In almost all of the cases, these are really nice people who are volunteering their time. If it is a Pride-specific event, is there criteria [artists must meet]," sympathized musician Tim Hart. He adds, "[Organizers should] be able to share their criteria. If it's Ellen DeGeneres, I am front and center. Susan Sarandon, maybe. But Britney Spears? You better tell me why?"

Price is less pragmatic in her approach. "We know talent. Pride day is the most stressful day of my life," said Price, adding that getting exclusive talent adds to the stress. "I try to have people [performers] who nobody has."

Where things get into murky waters is when someone like Kathy Griffin is suggested. Almost everyone who was asked said they did not have a problem with the comedian performing at the events because of the amount of work she does for the community.

Out Only = Discriminatory?

For an event that is supposed to be about people coming together to celebrate each other and the LGBT community as a whole, the idea of excluding anyone who might want to participate rubs some the wrong way.

"I'm sure the people who have said the things that they have said against are basing this on feeling they genuine feel. But you really have to think about that. I know if I were not permitted at an event that was for African-American equality because I am a white guy, that would make me uncomfortable," Hawkins said.

Pride events were meant to bring the community together as well as shed light on political issues initially; critics say that sexual orientation should not be the only deciding factor when it comes to deciding who comes up on stage.

"Orientation should not precede the quality of the work or person," said Meyer. "People often want to support their own, but they also want to work with people who they can form relationships with."

Singer Noriega, who has performed at pride events, also says that while he thinks that out artists should be playing these events more frequently and with a higher visibility, there is more to Pride than just performances from singers.

"I guess it is kind of upsetting, but I don't know I go to Pride to have fun and don't go to watch the artists," the singer said.

LGBT discount

It's only natural if you are holding a fundraiser to ask supporters to donate money, time or goods. But what happens when those supporters are asked to take part in pride events at a reduced rate simply because of their sexual orientation? That is what some artists have said happens to them when being approached about performing.

"Some people assume because those artists are open or gay friendly, they will do it for less. That isn't always the case. This is their livelihood. The artists have their own cause or charity they support," explains Meyer.

Price says that some top out performers take themselves out of the running. Instead of picking one or two pride events out of the stack of requests, performers like Rosie O'Donnell and Ellen DeGeneres have made a rule not perform at any. For people like Danny Noriega, who makes a portion of his income from performing at LGBT events, being lowballed financially can hurt his financial bottom line.

"I have definitely had that happened to me. The day I performed at Pride I performed for free. A recent event - this really pisses me off now that I think about it - It was a good cause for my peeps. They called me to see if I would perform and I asked if it was a paying gig. I found out afterwards that me and one other were the only ones who weren't paid. So what is this, it is for our people so we didn't get paid?" recalled Noriega, who has performed at pride events for free. "[Singer] Jojo and Steve-O all got paid."

Andre says that this is a common practice for some Pride organizers as many of them are non-profit organizations, but the intentions aren't some nefarious kind of sexual profiling to save money.

"I don't know where they got their understanding. It's not uncommon to request donations. It's kind of our bread and butter," explained Andre. "It really depends on the event and the scope of the event. Sometimes we do ask people to donate their services and performances. Sometimes we are able to pay a stipend. We have had people who are able donate their time across the board."

All of the Pride event organizers who were asked, said that there is no policy in place about screening the politics of the performers. However, they were also very clear to say that any performer who isn't a clear supporter of the LGBT community would not be asked to perform.

"I don't think that we would extend an invitation to someone who isn't clearly supportive. That person probably wouldn't take us up on it," Andre said.

Much like what has been seen recently at gay film festivals, the community has begun to stand up and say that they want something more than just anything slapped together with gay themes. Being pickier and having higher expectations will only make pride events better going forward. The question still remains whether or not adopting a gay only policy for performers is the way to go or not.