Well CJ Morgan, if you don't like the conclusion that being born that
way is a genetic defect then what is it ?
The alternative is they chose that way to live.
You want it both ways, born that way but not a genetic defect.
Come on thats a nonsense and you know it.

Turn right etc is right in that in olden times most children lived on
farms and they knew from an early age which way is up.
They knew that mating bulls with bulls was a waste of time and probably
realised that homosexuality was a bit silly, I mean whats the point ?

Isn't it marvellous how someone who calls out that the emporer has no
clothes gets jumpted on and called allsorts of names !

So Bazz how do you treat handicapped (everybody else read different) people?

Are you with the old catholic school approach of flogging left handers until they learn to be right handed?

Should they be locked away out of sight because their handicapp's make you uncomfortable?

Should they be deprived of the things that let them deal with their handicapp's because that helps you feel superior?

A predisposition to homosexuality clearly places someone at a disadvantage if the only goal is procreation, others of us place some value on how we live our lives.

R0bert

Ok folks, lets get back to the issue.

There is nothing in the original post that makes a judgement about the morality of Homosexuality. Other people on this forum have decided to make it a gay vs Christians issue

When the age newspaper published an article in April last year claiming that the Australian Grand prix organisers overstated their attendance figures by 30% were they being anti motorsport?

http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/grand-prix-attendance-overstated-by-70000/2006/04/06/1143916656744.html

So, why do the people think the organisers of the Mardi Gras parade are above scrutiny? Is it because they are gay? No, that could not possible be it, that would be reverse discrimination.

If a sponsor, unhappy with the return on their investment in the event, decided to accuse the organisers with fraud because they overstated their attendance figures by 1000% year after year would that be homophobic?

If you purchased a cafe on the parade route and ordered in big because you were expecting huge numbers, would it be homophobic to complain because you felt ripped off when you had to throw out tons of rotten food?

These are real questions that organisers of any other event would have to answer so why not the organisers of this event?

Proverbs... can you find me an example of another event that has gotten in trouble for exaggerating their figures?

As you point out, there's been an article in one of the papers pointing out the figures don't stack up.

They probably don't. The truth is... nobody really cares.

The reason why the argument drifted in the direction of the morality of the event, was that people were wondering why it is you feel so strongly that there needs to be accurate figures. Your subsequent posts indicated a particular stance on the issue, which fuelled the topic in drifting further.

I know I for one, take these figures with a grain of salt. I dare say, you're probably right in that they're exaggerated. I reckon they're probably somewhere mid way between your estimate and the final figures.

But the question becomes... why is it such a problem for them to inflate the numbers.

And then we end up on the merry go round again...

Attendance figures are an ideal way of determining the success of an event. High attendance figures indicate high public approval.

This translates directly to high estimates of the economic benefit to the area, city, state etc.

It adds weight when responding to opponents (EG Aust GP vs Save Albert park Group) and competing against similar events for sponsorship dollar (EG AFL vs soccer, Union vs league etc).

High attendance figures raise the profile of an event giving it credability when aplying for government approval for road closures or building permits etc.

We should get annoyed when organisers of events like the Australian Grand Prix and the Mardi Gras parade try and rip us off with inflated attendance figures.

As for my motive for creating this post? I think it boils down to my sense of injustice.

Firstly, there is a sense of injustice that comes about when people try to Con me.

Secondly there is the sense of injustice that comes when certain groups think they should be exempt from people disagreeing with their philosophy and that they should not be open to scrutiny like the rest of us.

True, my view on homosexuality does differ from the viewpoint represented by this event. However, there are a lot of issues where I disagree with other people and in most cases we are all given the freedom to express our disapproval or disagreement with certain ideas, philosophies and actions.

We are all valuable individuals who deserve respect. I always try to address the issue not the individual and I hope others would do the same.

However, there are two groups who seem to overreact to anyone who disagrees with them.

Visit any number of discussions on OLO and you will find people sharing different views on a wide range of issues, but disagree with Homosexuals or Muslims and the response is frightening. The name-calling and the viscous personal attacks are quite disturbing.

Some would suggest they react because of years of persecution. There are many groups with a history of persecution but they do not react as strongly as these two.

I hear you proverbs and some just don't get it.

If you were a sponsor of Mardi Gras, then you should have a right to some more accurate figures. That is not homophobic.

If the legitimacy of Mardi Gras pivots around the "pink dollar", then the organisers have to be accountable to any misadvertising.

If you bought advertising for example, the SMH, ipso facto, they claimed to have 3 billion readers internationally, you would surely want some accuracy.

Besides, when the former Mardi Gras administration went into liquidation after bankruptcy, many artists, DJs, hire companies, and even media, were never paid for their services.

This followed some endulgent spending on "the Gay Games" which again, fudged up the figures to lure tourism and the American market to Sydney. Most never came. So Mardi Gras' investment went bust, ACON'S health grants from Government grants had to be fudged to cover some costs, and many services, tax payers, and business had to pay for some trumped up hype which was never true.

People hide behind the "discrimination" shield too often when it is a business, accountable, just like any other business.