I saw the above flyer in one of the groups I am a part of on Facebook and immediately caused uproar among the members. I understood where a few of them were coming from but me being me I had to get more feedback. Post the flyer in the various other groups I am a part of there seemed to have been a general consensus that the flyer is disrespectful to King’s legacy.
As always I’m the understanding one when it comes to the subject, and I don’t necessarily consider the flyer to be purposely disrespectful but more so done in bad taste. To give you the background on the flyer it was made by a club promoter advertising for MLK weekend. As some of you may know, in the LGBT community MLK weekend is a big party weekend especially in Atlanta. A lot of people find fault with this, but I can assure that the weekend is just as overly hyped among heterosexual party goers. I understand that the creator of the flyer is just doing his job, but it was truly disrespectful to add Dr. King’s image, especially such a monumental picture, next to an image of strippers.
But I digress, why is it that when it comes to the black gay community whenever it is time to celebrate an occasion the celebration revolves around sex and partying? What does this say about our community when we flock to the clubs and show our appreciation for the legacy of a man who fought for the rights of all by promoting strippers and drink specials; It seems to me that some of us are forgetting the reason behind the holiday and what had to be sacrificed to achieve it.
