I just got really pissed off because I came across this promotional ad from W Hotels, combining PRIDE, the Brokeback Mountain DVD release, and a hotel room (with a late check out.) I wish I could show you the flash media ad that it came from. Notice every button to click and spend your money says “BE PROUD!” It is so pandering it makes me want to scream. I swear, if any of you even fall for this gimmick I will track you down myself.

Then I came across this article which states, “‘This was a slap in the face for the black gay community,’ Powell said last week. ‘In a heavily African-American city, we have a white gay-pride event and the organizers don’t seem to want to change that.’” Please read the article. This issue really began to take form because the Atlanta Pride Organizers would not allow a national black magazine to have boothspace there.

So I ask myself now, why do these two stories bring me to a boil this morning? What do they have in common? The last paragraph of the article states, “Yet Earl Fowlkes, president of the International Federation of Black Prides in Washington, said that the racial divide in the gay community was not confined to Atlanta, or the South, and that it was a product of economic disparity.”

Economic disparity? Just cash and sales. Celebrate the diversity of the credit card companies in your wallet.

Eat your Brokeback Mountain DVD and picture book up with a spoon in some hotel room while you feel “pride”. Big business is very accepting… of your credit cards. They will love you for it.

I won’t.