Gay parade 'Southern Decadence' goes on, despite Katrina

NEW ORLEANS - A handful of die-hard revelers refused Sunday to let Katrina's devastation kill their party spirit or snuff out a famous gay parade that normally draws thousands to New Orleans' French Quarter.As military helicopters buzzed overhead, about two dozen holdout remnants of the annual Southern Decadence festival marched through the quarter, stopping at one of the only bars open, just barely - Johnny White's Sports Bar & Grill.Dressed in drag, wearing plastic leis or sporting makeup, the participants said they were determined to fight back against overwhelming despair with a familiar celebration that always begins in front of a favorite Gay bar, the Golden Lantern.

From the Urban Legends web site:Hurricane Katrina: God's Punishment for a 'Wicked' City?A reader writes: Is it true that Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans on a day that was to observe "Southern Decadence Day" with 100,000 homosexuals gathering to commit unspeakable acts in public?In a word, no. Despite the fact that some fundamentalist Christians appear eager to characterize the disaster as "God's judgment" on the "wicked" city of New Orleans, and despite their attempt to link its timing to a gay celebration held there annually, the claims are patently absurd:The hurricane struck on Monday, August 29. This year's Southern Decadence, sometimes called the "Gay Mardi Gras," was scheduled to open today, Wednesday the 31st, and continue through Sunday. The storm obviously did not strike on "the day" of the celebration. Many, perhaps most, of the revelers had not even arrived yet.Southern Decadence is a 35-year-old tradition in New Orleans. Why did God choose to wait till 2005 to "punish" the city for it?Why is the French Quarter, the district where the event (now canceled) was to be held, one of the least devastated parts of the city so far?If this tragedy occurred because God is angry at New Orleans, what was the point of the awful devastation and loss of life wrought in Mississippi and Alabama?Lastly, if I may vent a bit, I find it shameful, given the massive destruction, loss of innocent life, and ongoing hardships suffered by the hundreds of thousands of victims of Hurricane Katrina, that any self-appointed spokesperson for God would have the nerve to suggest that these people in any sense deserved their fate. Natural disasters happen all the time, and Katrina was certainly not the first hurricane to strike the southern United States this season. By what logic, and by what right, does any human being arbitrarily declare that this natural disaster was a punishment meted out upon sinners by God?

I'm still pondering on this thinking. I have no pat answers for Katrina. Except, I don't believe God "did it", He just "allows" things. Like the hurricane in 1938 or 9 in Rhode Island. What was that for ?There's so many innocent dead ... that I can't possibly say I have any answers.New Orleans is not the only sin city on earth or in this Country. I just wish we could just use this as a wake up call to preach Christ to as many as possible ... and not say, "Good for them Sinners, let 'em all die and go to hell". Eze 33:11 Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?Mat 9:11-13 And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto his disciples, Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners? But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. But go ye and learn what that meaneth,(Hos 6:6) I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. If it is "the goodness of God that leads men to repentance", and we 'know' judgment is coming and in the end "total full blown world wide",(and to the Church first, it says) then shouldn't we treat "sinners" as Jesus did, while he was here on earth ? WWJD ?Why no hurricane for these then ? British Army march with gay pride Sat Aug 27, 2:20 PM ET LONDON (AFP) - The British army joined in a gay pride march for the first time, an army spokesman said. Troops in uniform joined the annual Gay Pride festival in Manchester, northern England, on the march through the city centre, with thousands of supporters watching from the sidelines.The army was out to attract homosexual recruits and show it can be gay-friendly.Soldiers gave out sweets as their float travelled along the two-mile (three-kilometre) course, following a float of muscular men in pink Lycra shorts dancing to music and blowing whistles."We don't really care what sexual orientation you are if you want to come and join us in the army," said Logistics Corps warrant officer Lutha Magloire, 39, part of the Army's Diversity Action and Recruitment Team."The army reflects society and we must recruit from all sections, so if there is prejudice in society it will be in the army also."But the army can only get better the more it represents all the community."The British army has attended cultural events before, Magloire said, but this was the service's gay festival debut.The Royal Air Force took part for a second successive year, with a float featuring a plane's cockpit.Though several marchers were dressed in sailors' uniforms, there was no official Royal Navy representation.Until January 2003, Britain's armed forces were legally allowed to dismiss homosexual officers.The march kicked off a three-day festival, attracting an estimated 250,000 people to Britain's third city. [end]