S3E8-Pride & Prejudice "Glitter Grievances Gurl"

Don P-Pafifer Podcast Productions: Okay. Here we are. Is this a live s wait, this is a live stream. We need to stop that. You know what? Let's just swing it. I guess. Let's do it. Now, wait. Calm down. ⁓ Yes, we're toggled. Are you toggled? I don't know. How do I do that? Well, did I've never toggled on my own. I have? Yes. You have to show me how to do it. No, you've done it before. It says live again. But it's not a live stream. You know what? We're going with it. Let's do it. And just you know what? According to the knowledge. I think you need to toggle more often. Well, I'm toggled. You're toggled. I certainly hope not, because I am not prepared for that. But ⁓ It's okay, we can always Well if it's live you can't cut it out. But you know what? It'll make someone be interested in it, I'm sure. Well if it's live, where's it going? Maybe only to your house and my house. ⁓ my god. ⁓ Happy pride, happy pride. Technology will be the end of my life. I think you need to have a cocktail and calm down. Okay, well, let's do that later. do you want to open? Do you want me to open? How would you like to do it? Well, let's start with hi. ⁓ hi. Welcome to Don and Gary doing 60. Yes, okay. Hi, I am Gary. I'm Don. And together, well, we're both over 60. My God. Listen, welcome to the Don and Gary Doing 60 Podcast. We're here to unwrap, navigate, and work the world at this age. As best we can. You know, today is a day. You can find us on Apple Podcasts. You can find us on Spotify. You can find us wherever you can ring that dead cat around your head and throw it. You're gonna find us. You're gonna find us on YouTube at the Fife for Pod. Gary. ⁓ my gosh, that was a lot of work. It was. And ⁓ we might be recording, we might not. And we might be going live to the entire universe. And we might Wow. Had I known I would have like zhuzhed up a little. But ⁓ on this episode, we're gonna be talking about Pride and Prejudice. Yes, we are. Yes. And you can take that any way you want. The way I took it was the novel from the eighteen hundreds. Okay. Is that not right? Because I have notes here. Jane Austen, when she was twenty one years old, published well this book in eighteen thirteen. And and we thought this would be interesting somehow because I thought we were just trying to get ⁓ look smarter. Okay, well but I didn't never read the book, I never saw any of the movies. Okay, well, here's the thing. ⁓ it's Pride Month. We're halfway through it. It's about time we contributed to the Pride content world. So let's take a break, confer again. And we'll come right back. Okay. Yeah. That makes more sense. So okay. ⁓ my god. I've got other notes though. We'll be right back. And we're back. Yay. Yay. Well, now that you've set me straight, as it were. Well, we're talking about pride. Yes. We're in the month of June. Yes. And I named it Pride and Prejudice because in the times that we are in, ⁓ there's a lot of negative stuff going on. True. That is targeted towards the LGBTQ plus community. Yes. So Some of things I found are some things on the positive side and then unfortunately some things on the negative side. So do we want to start negative and end with positive or I think okay, because let's let's do this. Let's trade off our subjects because I actually found a couple of things too. I wanted to talk about the pride celebrations and the El Scandalos that were happening here in SoCal with regards to pride ⁓ celebrations. I also wanted to talk about pride in the commercial world when I mean and I'm what I mean by that is the ⁓ how it was represented in the retail world and how it's changed drastically from the time of when we started COVID. Do you have too? Is that you too I've got a little bit of everything. Okay. I I got stuff from all over. So I I can do this too. You know if you want to rip up my notes I will. Not at all. Don't you rip anything. Okay. So why don't you go first then? So since I am in San Francisco and you know does have one of the largest pride parades, pride celebrations going on. It's a little overshadowed right now by the conversations over that happened. Last Friday was the Giants Pride game. They have different themes that they have throughout their season. And here's just a few different games of the season there's Mexican Heritage Night, Irish Heritage Night, Firefighter Appreciation Night. Jewish Heritage Night. I mean, all the different heritage nights just saluting different groups, different communities. ⁓ and so in line with that, last Friday was the ⁓ LGBT appreciation. And the controversy was that Giants have always been big supporters. Mm-hmm. And what they did for that particular game is they had their all the players had baseball caps that normally are black with the orange logo for their team. But for this game, they had in lieu of the regular logo, they had a ⁓ a pride colored logo. ⁓ And that's what they're supposed to wear. But one player chose to wear the regular uniform one. He didn't have any no controversy there. He just chose not to wear the pride one. And that's how he made his statement. Three other players used the wore the pride hat, but they added a Bible verse kind of in front Really and that has blown up big time. And the they were reprimanded because you're not supposed to alter your uniform in any way whatsoever. So the easy way, if they didn't want to support Pride Knight, was just to wear the regular hat. But they wore that. And ⁓ the giant management issued a a statement, you know, saying that's not us, that's the you know, with the team, that's not how we feel. And but for a lot of people it pissed them off. It wasn't ⁓ enough of an apology and i it from one game it it became this big conversation in the sports world, in the news world, across the country, and it's just it's just left a a tainted mark on what should have been just a fun night, a fun game, supporting LGBTQ ⁓ community and it ⁓ it just had a you know bad aftertaste. Yeah, and the reper questions, I mean, when we talk about what's happened when it comes to consuming also there's a huge there can be a huge pivot and restructuring on how people spend their money. Right. And I know it's not inexpensive to go to a baseball game, but I guess I mean, what else do you have any more on that? 'Cause I've got an opinion too. Well, so the part of the conversation because it it was a mix of i in in ⁓ they were making political statements. So then It became a a ⁓ mashup of politics and sports. So that's why maybe too? Any religion and religion, sure. Yes. So it just and because everything is so combative on both sides of the aisle, everyone's chiming in and well, they should have done this, they couldn't have done that. And ⁓ it's just sucking up all the airwaves. What it's doing right now for a little bit, at least locally, it's taking away attention from what's going on in the White House. And the administration and the a certain pool that might be turning green and blue paint and the blue paint peeling up. But I don't want to get into that. ⁓ I've got a scandal about that because I was just seeing somebody else reporting on it too about the paint coming up. So other than that, I mean, there's a lot of stuff going on because ⁓ a lot of excitement and not just LGBTQ, but ⁓ in this month because the FIFA soccer games have started. Yeah. And so they're being hosted. all up and down the coast. So I'm sure there's some near you. Yeah. There's some here and then further north. And other and other parts of the country as well. But it's a big, huge thing where all the bars are having watch parties. There's a lot of buzz, a lot of excitement, a lot of energy, a lot more people coming into town. Because we're coming close to Fourth of July. They're starting, I wanna say this weekend and going through July fourth, this big light show that's gonna like go across the whole city in rainbow colors. And just different events going on. So there's a lot of positive things going on. And wasn't there a new monument opened up in Civic Center? Or was there a new light kind of that light fixture I just mentioned, ⁓ it's it's called seven by seven and 'cause that's the square footage of San Francisco, seven miles, seven square miles. Mm-hmm. Or seven forty nine square miles, excuse me, seven by seven. But anyway, they ⁓ that light installation I guess is gonna be ⁓ centered in a civic center right by City Hall. But you'll be able because it will be so huge, you'll be able to see it from all parts of the city. Okay. Because that's that looked pretty amazing actually. I saw some kind of an AI version of it, but it looked like might be beautiful. Yeah. And then you know, so next weekend, ⁓ the twenty seventh and twenty eighth of June is the the big celebration here with the parade being on that Sunday. You know, so there'll be a lot more people in town You know, hopefully supporting a lot of the local businesses. Right. You know, people generally pretty well behaved, but just, you know, especially if there's good weather, everyone's gonna be out and about and and having a good time. Yeah. Well, I okay. So here's a couple of things. I did not realize, I don't know how I missed that story from the Giants game, but something similar happened last year in the at the Dodgers game where there was talk of postpon or not participating in a private event during the month of June with baseball and it was a huge uproar. And the club the baseball club came back and said, Yes, we will be doing this. So there was actually a point where they were not even going to do it, as I recall. So that was a major backlash that starred on ⁓ grassroots efforts to bring it back. But luckily the club came back. You know, where these decisions are made, who knows where it happens. Right. You know, and who decided and I guess I have a controversial thing to say about the baseball hats. You know, not everyone supports every cause. Right. Not every person supports everything. People have their religious beliefs. People have their own viewpoints on the LGBT LGBTQ plus community. Not everyone has to support, and not anyone not everyone supports, you know, Catholics, not everyone supports Jewish people, not everyone supports, you know, pickleball. So I mean it's it's one of those things where yes, you can absolutely and I think, you know, in certain ways, I'm sure there's ways you could do it. I think the one player that just chose to wore the regular hat. That was his choice, right? I mean. And they mention him, but it's kind of a side note because it's there was no controversy. That's what he chose to do. And but the religious comments on the side, or whatever the verse might have been, of course and what I guess what really shakes me about this is that it gets so controversial and then it gets toxic because I'm sure start people started to throw politics into this. Yes. ⁓ sure. The LGBTQ plus Pride Month, the religious side of it, the f free rights or I'm sorry, free speech rights, just make it a baseball game. And there's so many things. And I know, I'm sure, if you look at any of the content providers that are doing this or any of the the blogs or it's all gonna turn toxic. And unfortunately, politics gets so wrapped into it, then people just start throwing that in, and it just turns into a a a tire fire, you know? So a ⁓ I don't know how long a year ago, two years ago. I don't follow baseball, so but some of the teams during the whole Black Lives Matter era that ⁓ they were putting patches or something of support on their uniforms. Which going back to what the Giants had said about the rainbow thing is like you're not supposed to alter your uniform. But when then they then they brought up, well, how come during the Black Lives Matter ⁓ times when they were putting patches and things on the no one said anything about that. Yeah. So right. I mean it that's it just gets messy and toxic when you start mixing. Did anyone try the argument about altering the was it the S F or whatever the insignia was in Rainbow? Did anyone try and say that that was altering the the the ⁓ the uniform? ⁓ it wasn't altering the uniform because they made it special for that particular game. Okay. So any other game they wear the regular hat, but because this was a team sanctioned thing, like for this game, we're doing this, and then that's you know, you're not gonna wear it another game. But it's the fact that they took that hat and added something to it. So now you're altering what was already approved by the management and ownership to do it. And that that's where management kind of like gave him a little slap on the hand and everyone else is like, that's not good enough. Mm-hmm. Right. So Yeah, no, you're right. It's it's messy, it's toxic, it's Yeah, and I'm sure people just say, Can we just play baseball? Can we just go enjoy a baseball game? Right, right. I mean, I get it, but I guess there is a responsibility ⁓ I don't know. I I I I'm so on the fence on it, I don't know where because it just depends on where you b your belief system is or what you choose choose to support and how you choose to support it. Yeah. And and it's it's Interesting coming from the team, the Giants, who have been one of the like the first supporters of when they started doing these Heritage Knights and like ⁓ supporting LGBT groups, ⁓ they would have special games for that. They will ⁓ always be in support of and they've ⁓ used to do a until there's a cure day special game right for AIDS. So they've always been big supporters and and so this thing wasn't the team or the management that did it, it was a couple players. But it blew up in their face and they they just it won't go away. Well, let me ask you this if you don't mind, because I want to bring my part of this into it too. Although I had the opinion, but also it's like when we talk about consumer spending, do you f believe that there could be a backlash to attendance? I mean, I don't know how much of the community supports going to baseball, but I'm sure a good number of people do. You go to to games every once in a while. Now, surely goes to all the games basically. So there's a lot of people that are going to the games. Do you feel like you wouldn't go now at this point? Well, I quit I was there the night before. I was there Thursday night because a neighbor had an extra ticket. So that's I again I don't go a lot. But the few times the times I've gone, a lot of times it's I get in for free. Well okay. Yes I know people. Regardless of you had a s if you took a stand on it you want to say for the the the diehard fans, would it turn them off and ⁓ make them not go to games? Possibly. Now the fact that the Giants are in the toilet right now in terms of the season, they're not doing well. So I mean I think it would hurt more if they were winning all the time. But ⁓ they've been losing big time. So they are literally in the toilet. But ⁓ no, it's definitely a a a a point, a valid point to raise because it can impact the fan base if they, you know, turn turn their backs. Just as what happened like last year and maybe even before that, when certain a certain administration came in and then there were a lot of changes being made, which resulted in stores like Target and other companies that were rem they used to when you walk in during Pride Month would have a big display of Pride, you know, related items and then gone, disappeared. ⁓ Pitching it up and let me hit it with the bat. ⁓ my God. ⁓ my God. We're on fire. We're on fire with these things. I wanted to share with you about the the loss of support for Pride Month in retail. And to your point and to our discussion today, Target, Walmart, Amazon are all losing consumer spending money. And ⁓ they're saying that statistics that I've read and looked at, 72% of LGBT, LGBTQ. consumers say they're buying less from companies perceived as scaling back diversity, equity, and inclusion, yourself included, right? So is it is it a target thing? Because Target's one of the biggest losers right now. Yeah. ⁓ no. ⁓ when that all started, I'm I'm I've I have my my red card, my target red card. Mm-hmm. And ⁓ that was my go to for a lot of things. And prob I don't know if I'd go every weekend, but I'd go a lot. And I d I definitely stepped it back a lot. I think I went for a big gap of time where I didn't go, but my mom needed something that could only get there. So I like all right, wait in the car. I'll be right back. Yeah. Right. But you're you're you're talking with your dollars and that's what a lot of people are saying because also another statistic, it's estimated that about one point seven trillion dollars is coming from the LGBTQ plus community. When it comes to spending in says places like this. So again, those major brands, including Amazon, are also losing money because people are actually unified in their distaste for the loss of or the non participation or showing any kind of support for the community at all. Some places that actually, you know, ⁓ we talked about Target, it's Walmart, it's also Amazon, but it's also Chick fil A, of course. Major contender and Home Depot. Because of the removal of DEI restrictions. ⁓ yeah. The whole DEI removal last year was a big deal. Yes. And a lot of companies. And they're still talking with their dollars by not going to them and actually making adamant statements about never going back because you know they're trying shown their true colors. But do you remember a few years back, and let's say COVID, but even ⁓ maybe not far away, every store had a huge pride display of something. Didn't matter what it was. It could be they put all their cups in a row or they put mugs of the same colored striped flags like the one you have behind you or something. Or for places like places like Target or Walmart or Amazon, they had true like full kiosks full of product now. ⁓ yeah. And I I recall walking to Target, once you get your cart right in front of you, right there, was a big old display that had assortment things that were Pride related clothes or pro hard goods or whatever there was, but you and it was nothing like kind of offensive. ⁓ you can't have the kids look at it. It was just that's and believe me, we'll have another discussion about this and about why everyone's so upset about it, because like what are they doing to you that's so horrible? But anyway, so there actually I I just thought we'd notice that or mention that too, because there actually are a few places that are doing well with it. So a lot of companies that are still supported in a good way by the community are Costco, believe it or not. Apple, Ben and Jerry's, Delta Airlines, and Kroger, which is basically a huge conglomerate of a lot of grocery stores, because they are still supporting and have never changed their stand on DEI or any of the other things when it comes to community. Although they might not have a huge pride display, but they've never changed their company policy of how they treat their people. And that was a huge factor also. Adding to that list, yes, please. Levi's. ⁓ yeah. R R E I, which is a big sporting good, you know, ⁓ camp camping store, skiing and all kinds of sports related store. Yep. Hot topic, which is fast fashion, American Eagle, Apercrombian Fitch, Old Navy. And this one never heard of, but it made me think of you. The Bitter Southerner. It's a magazine, apparently. And I thought, is Don publishing a is he a publisher too? Yeah. Thanks for that. But I think the biggest thing as I see, as I said, and we're talking about right now is the fact that some companies never shifted away from their support. Of everyone. And we're not just talking about the LGBTQ plus community. It's minorities, it's people with disabilities. It's all of that. So it's actually it's a huge umbrella. But I mean, if they've if they've never turned away, consumers have stayed loyal and are still going. So yeah, for sure. The companies that chose to walk away are the ones that are hurting the most right now. And I So sticking with the positive side and but going back to sports for a moment. Yeah. There's an article I saw in I don't read sports USA, but it was online. Sports USA this month. Yes, it was a little side article. The 49ers for Pride Month this year, ⁓ here in the Bay Area that Levi Stadium in the South Bay, ⁓ they are have set up a rainbow seating section. Okay. So it's rainbow colored, and it says it's ⁓ plan to renovate a section of Levi Stadium using rainbow colored seating in recognition of Pride Month. The designated area is intended to serve as a welcoming space for LGBTQ supporters attending Fort Your Niners games. So just for the month, they put it out there, you know, took one of their areas and and zhuzhed it up. Yeah, that's a good So I thought that was great. Absolutely. And you know, they're getting backlash for it, of course. Social media, of course, went crazy. Some fans praising it. Others question whether sports and social causes should be should intersect. Well that's kind of what we talked about with the baseball game too, right? You know, I mean I was kind of on the fence. I understand I kind of understand both viewpoints. I don't support both, but I think that there is some validity to standing up for something. And you know, w in California, in the Bay Area, it's kind of not surprising that something like this would happen. Right. You know, whereas in another state with a team that maybe is like, yeah, maybe not you know, that's not something they would consider doing. Mm-hmm. Even though they would probably have an LGBTQ fan base that would go and support their teams and go to their games because they like the the sports and they like the teams, but maybe they're not, you know, catering to and being ⁓ upfront about supporting their the LGBT group. There's also subtle ways to do this because one of the things I've seen when I drive home, ⁓ I actually there's a car dealership and it's a Jeep dealership. And guess what they did? They lined up Jeeps in red, orange, yellow, green, and blue. As a very subtle support, but it's like, you know, most people, you know, if you're not gay, maybe you don't even know what the flag looks like, you know? But you know, like, ⁓ those are cute card they look like jelly beans, but it's like it's actually a very subtle message to send support. And I I kind of really love that because ⁓ yeah, for sure. It's not in your face. It's not it's just like, yeah, we're here. Yeah, yeah. I really like that. So ⁓ do you have anything on what's been happening internationally? And I I'm sorry I didn't have details on this, but There is a a new I want to say like in Norway and also in ⁓ in Amsterdam. Isn't there like a new for lack of a better prime minister or or lead or whatever? The Norway, the new Prime Minister was sorry, the Norway Prime Minister is gay. Right. And then I think in Amsterdam, the if it's if it's like the mayor or someone like that, but a political high political figure, also very open, gay, whatever. And They, you know, of course, they're celebrating it. Yes, of course. Well, Norway's a very progressive country in every single way. If you think about their ⁓ their economics, their open opinions to lifestyle, but also their ability to ⁓ deal with global warming, their ⁓ recycling, they're they're ahead of the game in every single aspect. We should do a special on Norway one time. Yes, or go visit Norway and record from there. So although it's a little cold, it's beautiful. Well, just, you know, where our thermals will be fine. Okay. So let's see, do you wanna move on to a different topic or do you have another one? ⁓ let's see if I have more well, I th some things are like n are negative things, but Well I don't that's why we're going to escandalo. Yes, please, you go. Okay. There's a couple of things and you might have heard about them that happened down here during Pride month that actually were controversial but also ⁓ they were just glitches in the system and some bad tr decision making. Okay the first one was the LA or Wiho Pride Parade, was going to be originally hosted by Nikki Hilton, who was a member of the ⁓ Beverly Hills Wives or whatever. So once she was announced as the grand marshal for the Wii Ho parade, there was a huge kerfluffle because people started to question. her liaisons with the current administration because she had been seen at previous parties at Mar-a-Lago and she was accused of making some ⁓ homophobic slurs on her real housewives of is it Beverly I don't watch Nikki Hilton is not a real housewife. Her mother is a friend of her aunt is a longtime member, but she does show occasionally in in party scenes. I don't know, but they basically because of her trust me, I know. Girl her her liaisons, her her ⁓ connections to being seen at Mar-a-Lago, who knows? She seems it seems to be like on a ⁓ different there's different sides of the the story because she has been in many ways supportive of LGBTQ plus communities, I guess. I don't know enough about it. What I do know is that the girls were upset because Nikki Hilton was gonna be the the grandmaster. Instead of having anyone, they had no one. So they had no one, but this like everyone was saying, well, it's kind of shocking. Especially Wiho or LA, you would think because most times it's some celebrity. I think it was it was Paris Hilton a number of years back. They've had everybody and their mother who supports the community. So why would they choose this person? Nobody knows. But also the big question, which was kind of another controversy, is that why are they always choosing a celebrity? Why not someone Who truly makes a difference in the LGBTQ plus community? Someone who is a fundraiser or someone who has a great cause or someone who's been all of their lives dedicated to the support of the community. I mean, I I you know, who doesn't like to see a celebrity every once in a while in a tr in a car? But there's probably a lot of People are gonna come for the event, the not the parade, but the whole ⁓ week or weekend of festivities and partying. They're not coming because of one person. And for the organizers to pick someone who either they do they think she's popular. She's got X number of, you know, followers on social media. So she must be popular. Yeah. I don't know. I don't know how they how they determine that. No, I I get it too. But also it's like, you know, I I don't know. It's like you're not going there to see that one person for three minutes on a Cadillac and, you know, maybe that's not it. But I mean It's interesting also on this side note, is like the cost. The parades, of course, are free because they're to the public, but the private parties have gotten so expensive that, you know, it's spent I think they've had a couple years in LA, they've had like Kylie Minogue, they've had a whole bunch of huge headliners come into sing at the festival, which is so incredibly expensive. I think the San Francisco Festival is just a donation, right? Right. So when you walk into the Civic Center area. You know, they they come in from different sides of it because it's it's several blocks. So at each entrance ⁓ they'll have people holding buckets for suggested donations. But are they gonna let you in without giving money? I'm sure. I'm sure they're not it's not like 'cause it's a donation, not a entrance fee. Right. Right. Right. So most most people do give. Yeah. Well, the second El Scandalo that took place was the ⁓ Long Beach Pride celebration where The committee, you know, there's always a group that is organize organizing the actual activity itself of Pride Parade s ⁓ festivals or whatever. And the city of Long Beach actually refused the committee for Pride this month to actually hold their festival because allegedly they didn't file their paperwork on time and they had changed ⁓ let's see, they had changed organizers and production companies just two days before the event. So They basically they still had a parade, but they did not have a festival that they usually had in had because actually I've gone to that. It's actually quite fun. They have a loot a huge space they actually use near the aquarium that's really wonderful, but they didn't get to use that. Luckily, the city actually did step and said, Okay, well we'll provide you with some other venues, but you can't use this one. So of course the discussion turns into the people organizing the event. Who supposedly didn't file on time or didn't do that. So there's this bigger fluff about who said what and who's filed what on time. But the ⁓ the reality is that, you know, the city is is beholden to up, you know, keeping up their rules in place because if if you know I didn't file my paperwork on time, I wouldn't be allowed to have my festival or whatever. So it sure can't really make an exception. They might have been able to, but it's also not setting a good example by letting this one group go through without following the proper procedures. And you know you're you're a volunteer with the city. I'm sure they have a lot of parameters they need to be followed to get ⁓ yeah public event to take place. I'm sure you're sure ⁓ yeah hoops, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So so interesting. Yeah. So that didn't happen. But again, there's a the of course, you know the girls got together and they say, well, let's tear down the group that's not organizing this because they didn't have it together. And I think it's a lie. And It turned into a lot of drama because supposedly the community turned against the committee and they want to tear it down or change it because they can't even get a pride event. They've had a whole year to organize. Well I was gonna say, I mean, it happens the same time every year and there's deadlines to be met. So Yes. Yes. Is it the same person who waits until the night of ⁓ April fourteenth to file their income tax? 'Cause it's that's the dates it's due the next morning. At midnight they're putting in you know. Yeah. So that was mine. What else you got? Well, so we've been talking about, you know, pride events in California, which have always been going on, whether they actually take place or not, but they are organized, they're planned for. ⁓ but I I read how other states choose the month of June to highlight other things, to take away the the ⁓ focus of Pride Month. So Tennessee. Kicked off the rename June trend this year, because they you know they can't call Pride Month by designating the month as Nuclear Family Month. The declaration said that nuclear families are one husband, one wife, and any biological, adopted, or fostered children, and God's design for familiar structure. That's Tennessee. Arkansas, and my dear friend Sarah Huggabee Sanders, who's the governor. ⁓ how are you two? Are you talking these days? Well, ⁓ no, I've she's been not she's not been returning my calls. Okay. She declared June fidelity month to celebrate cultivating fidelity to God, family, community, and country. Sanders then shared a Daily Wire story explaining that she made this declaration specifically for the purpose of counter programming Pride Month. So she put it out there. It's like, yeah, this is what I'm doing. Alabama, ⁓ they declared June strong families month. So every every state has their own version of what they want to do. But it's about family and faith and not the gays. Yeah. so Alabama's Strong Families Month. Yeah. ⁓ the proclamation makes it clear that strong families do not include families headed by same sex couples. Homes led by stable parents, a father and a mother provide children with the structure and discipline necessary to succeed. Mm-hmm. ⁓ yeah. I No, plenty of families with a mother and a father and they are fine. Have you watched SVU at all? Come on, people. Indiana, they copy Tennessee's wording and designated June Nuclear Family Month, saying that families consist of one husband, one wife, and a biological blah blah blah. Utah is Fidelity Month. And then Ron DeSantis declares June of Florida, ⁓ declares June faith and family month to honor biblical families. Well, if you live in Florida, you get what you deserve, I gotta say. So again So not everyone is having a pride parade. Well let me speaking of him, because I had something on DeSantis also, he actually passed a bill earlier this year that empowers the government to forcibly remove any elected official who supports pride organizations in the state. So let's never go to Florida, shall we? 'Cause I gotta say the biggest sorry, go ahead. No, I mean you know the ⁓ taking away just like last year was taking away EDI stuff from companies, right? Like you can't do this anymore. And that continues surprisingly under the, you know, same administration. Yeah. So Trump removed at ⁓ removes LGBTQ plus veterans healthcare programs. So facilities across the US have been ordered by Department of Veterans Affairs to get rid of gender identity based initiatives and remove LGBTQ plus classification across medical coordinators who help LGBT coupless veterans across medical care. So yeah, just anything to do if it's got LGBT in front of it, get rid of it. Okay. Okay. Here's the thing. And we're gonna go a little philosophical now. We're gonna take a pivot to the left or to the right, whichever way you want to think about it. But please I think and maybe you'll agree or maybe you won't, but Pride Festivals and Pride Parades had gotten over the years a number of years back. Had gotten so incredibly corporate driven. Yes. There was everyone was depending so much on that money coming in to finance the event itself. And what I'm hoping in the back of my little head is that maybe because of all the things that I had here when it comes to pride events and parades that have been canceled this year because of the lack of funding, but also the lack of support. Would mean that maybe we could go back to a little more grassroots when it comes to having a festival where you just file your report on time or file your ⁓ permits on time and have a much smaller event that's not funded by Bank of America, Costco, or sorry, not I shouldn't say Costco, Bank of America or ⁓ Chick-fil-A or whoever it is you're looking for the money from. Because a lot of people have I I've heard and and I've read commenting on it saying, let's go back to what it was really meant to be. Which was not floats with driven by Cadillacs or however they're funded. So what do you think? Well, I was gonna ask you a side question to do with the parades. I've not been to too many other cities during Pride. And in your situation, the cities you've been to, when you've been there for Pride and seen the parades, how long do the parades last? Well the San Francisco one last a long time. I remember the most it ⁓ In an hour. They're long. They are long. Unless it's in a small city. Although even I the Palm Springs event is pretty fun. It's not that long. It's maybe an hour and a half, maybe. Okay. You know, so it's not long. But it's a smaller city or smaller town and shorter. When you say grassroots of things, ⁓ it makes me think of ⁓ when ⁓ several years ago it was twenty eighteen. I was in Prague. ⁓ okay. And the hotel that we were staying at was right up against the river. And I went out for a walk. I didn't know that that it was it was in June. No, actually it was in August, but it was their Pride Month. And they were having one of their first ⁓ if not very first, it was like they've only had it a few years, the pr Pride Parade in the city of Prague. And so I happened to be walking towards the river and then there's a parade coming. And was so sweet. Yeah. Because it was, you know, it's these young kids and You know, the what there was no corporate sponsors. It was just people either walking or in their cars, or you know, on the back of a pickup, whatever. And a little music. And it was just like fun and light and easy. Yes. And I stayed a little bit and didn't last that long. But yeah, but I went on. But then I'm thinking of San Francisco where I've like, okay, I haven't seen the parade in a while, I want to go see it. So you wanna get there in the very beginning so you can see from the start. And then it's so big and there's so many contingents and they're so spread apart that One'll go by and then like twenty minutes, like where's is are we done? Is this it? And then ⁓ there's so the next condition comes and then and then they you know, then it's a marching band. I mean it's all good, but there's so much of it. And it goes on for what is it, four, six hours? When it's that big, who the hell stays for the whole thing? 'Cause I know you and I never did. I went to I I le I watched a bit. I said, Okay, I'm tired. I went to go get lunch. I came back, it was still going on I just and to your point about the corporate sponsors, some of the contentions were so huge because it was, you know, fill in any big company name. And instead of having twenty five people marching in that group, it was a thousand. Right? It was taking up like city blocks of people, just one group. Yes. And then what happened, I wanted to say last year is when the whole DEI thing happened, a lot of those companies either cut it way down Or backed away completely. So then to your point about the lack of funding, it was like, Where's everyone? And a lot of lot of groups, companies disappeared, or they cut way back, or did if they're only providing financial support, we're doing a lot less or none at all. I think about we may not have a parade this year. I mean, this was last year. I've got a list of places that didn't have one this year. But also it costs a lot of money. To do that, especially in San Francisco, which is probably one of the biggest next to New York or possibly LA. They do generate a lot of money, but I don't know that the money that the city gener or that the events generate pay for the civic services that are needed to set up security, cleanup afterwards. So it's got to be a huge amount of cleanup. Although it's they're really good. I've seen it. San Francisco cleans up like that. They got it down. But imagine hosting that many people. And I've heard I've definitely read that they've made ⁓ mo milli millions of dollars off of the event. But I'm sure it costs millions of dollars to Yeah run the event. You know, so I mean there it's a give and take. And you know what? What's wrong with seeing a bunch of people pulling a wagon that has ⁓ streamers with like, you know, the pride colors on it with a pinata or something, you know? It's like, come on. Exactly. We'll see, we'll see where it goes. It'll be very interesting to see what happens next year just because of the the fallout from the ⁓ the decisions that were made in the administration, you know, yeah. I I get it. But you know, and also are you are you going this year? ⁓ so I've been asked to march in the parade. Last year I marched with the mayor. I was asked again. I've been asked by you know 'cause they all do it. They send out to their so I've been asked by our our supervisor, by our assemblyman, by our mayor. And I'm not sure 'cause while it's fun to being in the parade. Because you just you know, you walk from the beginning to the end and then you're done. Right. And it may take might take an hour and a half, two hours, wh whatever the length is of of the duration of the of the actual route. But all you get to see are the people staring at you. Whereas if you're on the side watching the parade, you get to see the floats and the marching bands and the and the celebrities and so you get to see a lot of more visual stuff. Right. I don't know if I will be watching the parade or if I'll be in the parade. I know that ⁓ one of the groups that I volunteer for, we are co hosting a after parade party. ⁓ that'll be fun. And I am because I'm the social director, I will be dropping off cookies or something at the party and also I'll be there. They're in the Civicstone area. So I will ⁓ I will be in the area, but I don't really go to the festival because it's just so damn crowded. I know. As you know. Mm-hmm. And there's not you know, it's it's it's fun, but also it's super crowded and it's there's not a lot of shade, there's no seating, it's just you know, for us older folks, I need shade, I need to sit down, I a little quiet. Yeah, there's nothing wrong with that. I think they televise it on probably one of the local ⁓ cable to networks. I'm sure they can you could watch it on TV. Some of them do they probably go to the cash show because it's super quiet there because everyone's left to go to the Civic Center. Doesn't it? I know we're going off on a tangent, but doesn't it change directions certain years? Does it go up or go down market? No, it always starts at the foot of market and ends at Civic Center because in the f Civic Center area is where the big festival is. Foot of market, like down by the ferry building? Yes. Okay. Yeah. You know, I was in the Pride ⁓ the Pride celebration one year too. I was on a float. For one of the companies you work for. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. I do remember that. I got pictures. But was that Up here or down in L I mean up. In San Francisco, actually. Okay. But that was way back in the day because I left them a long time ago. But it was fun. It was fun. But it was we're on a big float, but it took hours because but people don't realize behind the scenes is down south of market is a huge caravan of floats, people, bands, groups All queuing up to come at the at on s on the side streets off of market at the foot of market. We're all lined up, you know, and and then they start feeding you in little by little. I one time marched with the fire department and we were like, you know, way back like number three hundred and something contingent, right? Way back there. And so we had we had to get to our designated meeting place by a certain time in the morning. And basically just waited. Let's say ten o'clock. We had to be there. I did not step foot onto Marcus Street until two o'clock. Because everyone else had a feet. So it was four hours before I even touched the street of where you're walking. And then, because the times I've done it, I've not been on a float, I've been walking, you you know, you like you can't like wave and look at the sides because you have to look down because there's potholes, there's the grates where you could probably, you know, take a tumble and fall and break a hip. Break a hip. So no, you have to be super vigilant about looking down, looking ahead. And yeah. So it's it's a little stressful. So I have to say, maybe wrapping us up a little bit, that you know, this is a very interesting time for all of these pride celebrations. It is interesting to see where we're gonna come out on the other end of it. I think we will. It'll be interesting to see if it does gentrify into something a little more, can I say meaningful for the community? As opposed to a big float with ⁓ Nikki Hilton on it. I think although ⁓ maybe you had her kicked off 'cause you wanted to be the Grand Marshal. I'm not sure. Well, I I know people. But I I think part of what we talk about is in direct relation to the current administration and all the negative stuff that has with that. When there's a turn, hopefully there'll be a more positive spin on this. But I do ⁓ agree with your point about It'd be nice to get a little bit more, you know, community based. Yes. Yeah. I get it's a party. I get we like Kylie Minogue. I get it. But I also want to feel something about it too. Yeah. Not just where's the margaritas. And who's got the biggest, you know, donation? Or float. Well, that's enough double entendres for me. Right. So we've t we have talked pride and prejudice. Yes. ⁓ yes. Yes. Are we ready to wrap it up? I think so. I just wanted to make one more comment. I guess it's never happened before. On our ⁓ I forget which page it was, but one of our social media pages, there actually was a gentleman that came on and called us fools. Did you see that? Is that a fool as in a compliment? I don't I don't know. I don't think so because I blocked them. So okay. But we ain't got time for that. I ain't got time for that. So it's like, no. So anyone with ⁓ you know, the The negative or condescending views, just keep them to yourself. You can hate us from afar without telling us. We don't need to meet you, hear from you, see you, anything like that. Ever again. So, Gary, why don't you close us down? It's all in fun. Yes. And speaking of fun, we do have fun doing this. We have guests to come on, or it's just the two of us just, you know. And we have so much coming still. We have so much coming. We do. We have more guests coming. Yes. We're going to be Doing another ⁓ salute to Hollywood. I think we're gonna focus on Rob Reiner films. I would love to. We just have to pick which ones we want to focus on. Okay. And what do we also and there's always new guests coming on, so we have a couple of two in the can still. Two can. We're gonna let you two out soon, pretty I swear we will. Well, is Ken part two? Is Ken in the can? Ken Part two is gonna come out before this one does, so it's gonna be Ken Part two, which was lovely. You ⁓ you were actually quite a good So Ken is still in the can, but Ken will get out of the can. Well, by the time this airs, Ken will be out of the can. Yes. And then this will be out. Because we're gonna punch him out over week over week this night 'cause I don't want it to say anymore. And then we have, ⁓ should we say who our guests are or up to you. Well, one of the guests we went to high school with, but also Chopper. We haven't recorded yet, but we're going to. But I met her I if it's not kindergarten, it's like first grade. ⁓ and she has some scuttle butt. I did Yes. About you. Yes, so we'll well that's not a teaser. I don't know what We'll talk about that later. But yeah, so it's all good. You can as Don said in the beginning, you can ⁓ see us on YouTube, you can hear us on Apple, Spotify, wherever your favorite podcasts are. You can visit our website a a pod page to see everything. You can leave a message, you can watch ⁓ pull up past episodes. You can see us on social media, which includes Facebook and Instagram. I'm having a little trouble accessing our Gmail account to see if anyone's emailed us. I'm having a challenge with that. But our email address, if you want to send us any messages or suggest a topic, or you want to be a guest, that email address is donandgaryduin60 at gmail.com. Did I cover all the bases? YouTube. Yes. Well, ⁓ did I not say YouTube? You can watch us on YouTube, yes. Yes, I did. Where can they watch us? Add Pfifer. Three years, it's in three years. Listen, just Goog us. If you just Goog us, just Don and Gary Doing 60, you're gonna find all the places that we go. So listen, children, just Goog us and we find. Yes. So there you have it. Okay. That was down with Pride and Prejudice. No prejudice, it's Pride now going forward. So you have a happy Pride month. And don't forget that joining Don and Gary Doing 60 is like getting lucky. Blue it. Coming I'll edit this, but joining the Don and Gary podcast means getting lucky. I can't do this. Well pull out your pink, host it, and read it. Thank you for joining the thank you for joining the Don and Gary podcast, where getting lucky means finding a good parking spot. You couldn't remember that? Boy. That's hilarious. Loopareel number 93, I guess. Anyway. Anyway. Thanks, Gary. You did a great job. Alrighty. Happy Pride. I see you. Bye. Bye.