Closing Speech by Chair @SP2019

"DJ Regi will be up momentarily with our Grand Finale party until who knows when, but we wanted to take a moment to thank each and every one of you, present and not, who has come out and danced and played and had an amazing Pride celebration with us. Without you, there’d be no reason for us to do this. We deserve to feel good about who we are, to be proud of who we are, and boy have we done that this week!"

Chairperson Lee McKay by Fornith Cayshun

"I want to tell you that I have been overwhelmed by the compliments that I have received personally this week, and I know my fellow board members have also been receiving them. We’ve heard that this is your favorite Pride celebration, the best you’ve been to in Second Life, and so many other accolades. I can’t tell you how it makes us feel. It’s not that we want praise, it’s that we want YOU to be happy and enjoy yourselves in the best way possible, and it sounds like we may just have gotten it right.

I told you last week in my opening remarks that I would forget to thank someone, and I did. I want to recognize Andy Bates and Souix for three amazing art installations around the region. Two are called “Faces of Pride” and one is our “Stonewall 50” exhibit, which is a history in photographs. If you haven’t seen those, please take the time to check them out.  We have already been invited to present those exhibits at another venue!

That brings me to a reminder that this is not the end of Second Pride for the year…it’s more a beginning. The region will stay as it is, everything will be right here, shops and all, for you to visit anytime, bring friends, hang out, just enjoy yourselves. AND, we will begin soon having smaller events on a fairly regular basis, and you can definitely look forward to larger events and activities for Halloween, Winter, and other special times of the year. Please, remain a member of the Second Pride Festival Group to be kept up to date on what’s going on, and also check on our website at www.second-pride.com. In fact, coming up next weekend, we have Pride Fest, presented by FMD and The 40 Thieves in conjunction with Second Pride. All proceeds benefit Rainbow Railroad. Click one of the white posters outside the dance area to receive a landmark, and we definitely hope to see all of you there!

I want to thank Tootsie and her team for their hard work in keeping us secure for the last ten days, and tell her to go get some much needed sleep!

On July 13^th at noon (date corrected, 2019-07-06), in accordance with the Second Pride Bylaws, we will hold the annual meeting of the Board and Members. Also, you may remember that we tried to vote on a minor Bylaw change at the start of Pride, and the lag killed the voting machines immediately. We will complete that voting before the 14^th if all goes well now that the lag is gone.

Okay, thank you all again, and without further delay, Regi….take it home for us….let the Grand Finale begin!"

The Chair's Opening Speech at Second Pride Festival

Lee McKay's, the Chair of Second Pride, speech at the opening of the Second Pride Festival yesterday.

The Second Pride board, Lee McKay, Bock McMillan & Tootsie Nootan
(missing in the picture is i0n, who is currently on sick-leave.)
Photo by JJ Goodman

"I promise I won’t interrupt the party for long! I want to thank everyone for coming out today for the opening of Second Pride 2019, and the debut of our newly redesigned Second Pride region. We hope you’re ready to have some fun and celebrate Pride!

We’re doing something different this year in that we now consider our region to be a permanent build that will remain in place for the foreseeable future. We are also a Second Life Gateway region and will soon have new people entering Second Life right through our own Gateway in the northeast corner of the region. I hope you’ll go check out the progress on that. It will be opening in the near future. 

If you’re curious about how this build came to be, I was watching a video of Diana Ross performing in Central Park in 1983, and the shots of the park and the buildings in the background just looked and felt inspiring. I showed a really simple mockup of the idea to Bock and to his husband, Tomais, and within days, the building started, spurred on by a very generous donation of all these buildings in the Old NYC collection from Schultz Bros. We thank them for their generosity! This is a build that we want you to explore and enjoy. There are all sort of places to wander, stroll, sit, watch, meditate, reminisce, play, and just be. It’s a walking space, a place to take photos, bring friends, hang out, play games, and more. We will no longer be one or two events per year. We expect to have parties on a regular basis, starting soon.

This year, we are celebrating the 50-year anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, considered to be the catalyzing moment in the push for Gay Rights. With the current political climate and with our rights being slowly but methodically eroded from us once again, there is no better time for us to reflect on the events of that night and the nights that followed, and to consider the battles fought then, and the battles that are to come, because they are coming. We need to draw from the strength of the heroes of that night…Marsha P. Johnson, Sylvia Rivera, Storme DeLarverie (Stormy Delahveay), Danny Garvin, and so many others. We honor them for the stand they took that night, and we pledge to continue their fight.

Today

“Free at last, Free at last, Thank God a-mighty we are free at last.” ― Martin Luther King Jr., "I Have a Dream", (Washington D.C., August 28, 1963)

PSA: Free Speech

A much needed public service announcement from our friends over at xkcd.com on the true meaning of free speech, which my American friends call First Amendment rights.

Word! Word! Word!

The Best Gay Possible

(via J.M.G.)

Irishman Rory O'Neill is a drag queen and gay rights activist. His drag persona Panti Bliss is an institution in Ireland.

In January 2014 O'Neill appeared on an Irish television program where homophobia was being discussed. O'Neill alleged that some individuals involved in Irish journalism were homophobic. The persons mentioned by O'Neill were the journalists John Waters and Breda O'Brien of the Irish Times, David Quinn, head of the Iona Institute, and three other members of that same institute. The homophobes later threatened the television company and O'Neill with legal action.

The television company gave in to the pressure and forthwith removed that section of the interview from their online archive and issued a public apology to the homophobes. The company also paid a hefty settlement of €85,000 to the six homophobes.

On February 1, 2014, O'Neill (as Panti) gave a speech at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin in response to the events surrounding the controversy. This speech has now been set to music by the Pet Shop Boys.