Devil in the Holy Water

I know I should keep remembering that I am not like everybody else, and that I have different ideas than everybody else, and different ways of thinking, and... But tonight I watched a documentary on Sundance called "Devil in the Holy Water," which is about the coinciding events of WorldPride day and Catholic Jubilee Year in 2000 Rome. The documentary was good from a technical standpoint. It wasn't one sided or confrontational, really. It didn't even come close to the type of thing which Michael Moore did in Bowling for Columbine. It was pretty passive and tried to get both sides of the argument as well as the director could get them. Of course, the Catholic Church preserved its normal hush-hush mode on the subject.

But, here's my problem. Gay Pride is trying to get acceptance from the church and the world. But, they don't do it subtly or with much finesse. While throughout the movie several different people kept saying homosexuality is not about just pure sex, but feelings as well, and that was the point they were trying to get across, the week itself (yes it was a whole week) was full of rampant sexuality that may or may not have crossed the line of accepted decency for straight people in Rome. Of course, never having been to rome, I wouldn't know what those standards are. But bare breasts, half naked men, close to explicit gestures that may qualify for indecency in America, and all of this jazz were rampant throughout. It oozed sexuality.

Now, maybe its just me, but this glorification of homosexual sex as pure sexuality is in direct contradiction with the idea that homosexuality is associated with feelings and love and all of that. And, I know that you're probably thinking, "well, what about sleazeoid types things as 'Girls Gone Wild' and other straight exhibitions?" My rebuttal is that they said in the movie that the church was opposed to most sexuality in general. One guy hadn't even had sex (or masturbated, probably) though he wasn't married, and he looked in his late 20s to early 30s.

Thus, my question becomes, is this really the way that homosexuals should get the point across that gays are people too? Isn't there any other better method of display? I don't even mind the drag queens/kings (though I don't really like most of the ones I have met), so much as the image of a guy dressed only in a thong soaped up with foam on a public float or another guy in a thong on a float being bent over in front of another guy.

If you have Sundance, and want to see what the hell I am talking about, it will be on Sundance WEST (166 in Ann Arbor) at midnight.