Sara Warzecka Columnist

Recently, I set off with a true tourist's attitude to get to know infamous New York City. I intended to go shopping at a store a friend had told me about called H&M. Unfortunately, H&M is on Fifth Avenue. I've never been the greatest fan of shopping, and going into the heart of the debutante shopping center made me queasy.

A block away from Fifth my cab driver pulled over and said something about not going further. That was all I got from the man, since his words came out in a mix of Mandarin, Spanish, Russian, and Urdu. People really are serious when they say it's a requirement that cab drivers speak multiple languages (and preferably understand a miniscule amount of English). I exited the cab and walked down the block to Fifth in the vicinity of H&M.

Even at a distance, I could see something peculiar was underway along the avenue. People were gathered along the streets and watching as groups of colorfully dressed people passed down the road. Having lived in Tucson since I was five and living a sheltered life at that, I did not immediately recognize the purpose of this congregation. As I drew closer, the shirtless men in rainbow thongs started to bring a sense of recollection. They seemed somehow familiar. Wild Boys on parade? Then I reached the street and more people passed by, then floats. I could finally read the banners and knew it was a gay pride parade. (I am told this event is not foreign to Tucson but it was certainly new to my eyes.)

People crowded the street, filling and overflowing the sidewalks, eager to see the parade over the police barricades. Whether these people were there to support the cause, just tourists using up endless rolls of film or young women like myself torn away from shopping by untouchable eye candy, I will never know. But I couldn't help but feel touched by the turnout. I saw families with small children and old people carrying rainbow flags. I saw an older gentleman wearing leather pants and no shirt to cover his nipple rings and a young woman with purple hair wearing only body paint and pasties.

I also saw the protesters, the ones standing in the back carrying signs of condemnation. I passed preachers and people screaming and ranting, "Gays are going to hell. God says homosexuality is a sin. You are all going to burn." Having not seen a gay pride parade, I had also not seen a gay pride parade protest. Trying my best not to react to what I as a rational person cannot help but see as ignorance and moral turpitude, I quickened my step and bit a hole in my tongue to keep from screaming objection.

I don't understand why people feel the need to speak out about something that has no effect on their lives. The world is going to hell in many other ways and these self-righteous preachers are wasting their time on an issue that is never going to go away. Whether homosexuality is right or wrong, it is still going to be here tomorrow. The gay population will not wake up one morning and simply change its mind. Protesting will not change anything. In the end it only makes people angry. The shame of sinning is common among the masses, including the protesters. By their standards no one is without sin but unfortunately no one is standing outside with signs condemning the sins of these protesters.

Because we are all equally sinful, God does not grant the power of judgment to mere mortals. Judge not lest ye be judged. Right? No one has the right to pass such severe judgment on anyone, no matter the nature of his or her supposed sins. Who can live a moral life when they spend all of theirs worrying about what they see as the sins of others? There is no point in arguing whether homosexuality is right or wrong, biological or choice. It just is, the same as heterosexuality is. In the end, people have the right to their own life just the way they like it without nosy, sanctimonious protesters telling them what to do or how life should be.

The protests will never stop but in the end, the parade goes on. Having a lifestyle that has been deemed abnormal, gay men and women have to cope with these moral hypocrites. Often they cannot speak up to defend themselves and must simply grin and bear the social injustice. I only wish no one had to stomach it at all.

Sara Warzecka hopes that the judgmental can keep their eyes on theirown lives. She can be reached at letters@wildcat.arizona.edu.