Out In The Park at Six Flags New England, The Biggest Gay Day At New England's Biggest Amusement Park! Since 1997!

Upcoming Events For 2010

Out In The Park
At Six Flags New England - Sat Sept 18, 2010
Park open 10:30am-7:00pm
Celebrating 14 years of Gay Day at Six Flags New England!
Buy tickets to Six Flags On Line at SixFlags.com
OR check out other discount coupon sources HERE, or at Dunkin Donuts or Burger King.
Also look for the usual FrightFest discount coupons that have been 50% Off regular admission in years past!

Out At The Fair
At The Big E - Sun Sept 19, 2010
Celebrating 11 years of Gay Day at The Big E!
Buy tickets to The Big E On Line at TheBigE.com

Out At The Lake
At Lake Compounce - Sat Oct 2, 2010
Park Open 5:00pm til Closing
Celebrating 6 years of Gay Day at The Lake Compounce!
Buy your tickets online Save $5 on each adult admission, regularly priced at $34.99.
Enter promo code: 400902207 during checkout to receive your discount.
OR Print this coupon.
Check out info about the Haunted Graveyard!

Out In The Kingdom
At King Arthur's Fall Harvest Faire - Sun Oct 3, 2010
CT Ren Faire - CTFaire.com
Celebrating 7 years of Gay Day at The CT Ren Faire!

Out In The Court
At King Richard's Faire - Sat Oct 9, 2010
Special Event this year: TBA
Celebrating 10 years of Gay Day at King Richard's Faire!

People have once again asked a number of questions regarding this year's event. We hope this helps clarify things...

Out in the Park 2010 – What Six Flags does NOT tell you

This summary of facts has been put together in response to the overwhelming emails sent to us Info@OutInThePark.com.

The whole idea behind the original Out In The Park event in 1997, was to GET OUT in PUBLIC with our friends, families and partners, and to be OUT, PROUD and VISIBLE!

The OFFICIAL Out In The Park event has always been an open to the public, community event, like Gay Days in Orlando and elsewhere.

On the other hand, Six Flags has taken over all other "Gay Day" events at their parks and made them "private parties" - so they can charge higher prices and EXCLUDE Season Pass holders from using their season passes. Also, the Six Flags private parties do NOT allow ANY DISCOUNTS like special coupons, offers or pre-purchased general admission tickets.

The bottom line is NO DISCOUNTS or Season Passes can be used by the GLBT community IF anyone wants to attend Six Flags New England's Private Party!

Debating on which event to attend?

If you want to GET OUT in PUBLIC and be able to use ANY discount coupons, prepaid tickets or your Season Pass, we recommend going on Saturday, September 18, 2010.

OR

If you want to stay in the closet and attend a PRIVATE circuit party style event with more expensive tickets, and "gay entertainment", then you will want to go to the Six Flags New England "Private Party" on Sunday, September 19, 2010.
What is the difference?

If you now identify as Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual or Transgender, think back to when you were younger. Before you decided to come out, what held you back and what helped you decide to come out?

Before you came out, would you, not knowing IF you were really GAY, even THINK ABOUT going to an exclusive GAY ONLY event, just to see what it was all about? How did you see, or even meet other people that might also be Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual or Transgendered?

If you would not have gone to an exclusive, "private party" Gay Day event before you came out, why go to such an event now? Can you see the real importance of attending an OPEN TO THE PUBLIC GAY DAY event, and why it is important to be OUT, PROUD and VISIBLE? The importance is to be seen and educate people who might be curious (or prejudiced), about how we are really no different than anyone else.

Over the 14 years we have been planning Out In The Park, Six Flags has systematically forced all other Gay Day events held at their other parks to non-public times. In almost all other cases, these events are now relegated to a Friday night from 6:00pm until closing. In 2008, SFNE did the same thing here in MA (Six Flags alone organizes their private party). The CA and NJ parks are prime examples of what Six Flags will do with their “Private Party” event here in MA in the future. The NJ event was forced into being a private event 6 years ago (contact the folks at www.TwistedLife.com for the story).

Disneyland and Walt Disney World do not force the Gay Day events held at their parks to be private. Why after 12 years of our event being a public event, is it now necessary to be a “Private Party” event AND charge us more for this “privilege”?

If attending a Gay Day event is all about getting out in public, then WHY, in a state where same sex marriage became legal over 5 years ago, should we have to pay extra to attend a private and exclusive event? Last year, several people referred to going to the Private Party, as "buying your own ticket to Auschiwtz"! Sounds like an analogy that is spot on when you think about it. Are GLBT people that much more different than everyone else that we need to be herded into a private event away from the public's eyes?

By buying a ticket to the Six Flags New England's Private Party, are we buying back our own invisibility?

Look at a few more details regarding the SFNE "Private Party":

By holding a private event, Six Flags can charge the GLBT community ANYTHING they want to, AND they can bring in additional Sponsors (and the cash, like pride festivals do), but they do not have to give any money back to the GLBT community. Let's not forget the pride festival organizers are usually not-for-profit entities, whereas Six Flags is a for profit corporation. By making us think the event is for us, they get our cash, but our community does not see much benefit from dollars the dollars we spend, but Six Flags does.

By making the Six Flags New England Out In The Park Private Party "private", they also make sure the public does NOT see how many of us there really are! Attending such private events actually helps make the GLBT community more INVISIBLE! Remember, same sex marriage is still only legal in 5 states! We need to remain visible!

But didn't Six Flags New England state in print that the 2009 event would help benefit the GLBT community?

Yes, they did state that on their website before the 2009 event. But, they never mentioned in print which organizations would receive any proceeds. Not at all suspicious? When we attend other benefits for organizations that serve our community, don't we know right up front, in print and on websites, just WHO will benefit from our contributions and attendance? Why is Six Flags so lax in sharing such details?

When you analyze the amount of money that Six Flags donated, and to what organizations they gave it to, there is nothing that is really very affirming or openly GAY, LESBIAN, BISEXUAL OR TRANSGENDERED about their donations. The truth is, the words GAY, LESBIAN, BISEXUAL or TRANSGENDERED are completely and noticeably absent from the names of the organizations they donated to. We highly doubt that keeping these details "non-specific" until after they got our money was anything but intentional. After all, Six Flags filed for bankruptcy protection in June of 2009 and needed all the money they could get from us, while at the same time, magically writing off over 1.8 billion in debt, while their annual income is only a few hundred million.

Many of us get the distinct impression that Six Flags simply does not want to be publicly associated with the GLBT community, are we some how not family oriented enough? But Six Flags certainly LOVES TAKING OUR MONEY at a private event! If Six Flags were not ashamed or afraid of us, they would make their private party event open to the public and donate proceeds from our event to organizations that specifically serve the GLBT community.

Let's do a little math...

Six Flags New England donated a total of $1,500.00 from the proceeds of the 2009 Private Party event to 3 AIDS/HIV charities (one each in the Boston, Springfield, and Hartford - as boasted on their website outinthepark.info in spring 2010).

None of these organizations, though some clients may be GLBT, specifically serve the GLBT community directly as their primary mission, and certainly not in the same way that organizations like the The Hartford Gay and Lesbian Health Collective, The Gay Mens Domestic Violence Project, and so many others do, or in the same way that even Gay Straight Alliances at schools do for our youth.

If you estimate that there were only 1,500 attendees in 2009, that means SFNE collected only $1.00/attendee to donate to a charity. But some of you will say there were FAR MORE than 1500 attendees in 2009. OK, if there were more than 1,500 attendees in 2009, say 3,000 or more, than Six Flags New England only contributed 50 cents/attendee or less toward charities on our behalf.

Now, if you estimate attendance at closer to 6,000, that would mean that SFNE could only spare 25 cents per attendee to donate to a charitable cause. But wait, isn't a cup of soda in the park like $3.00 or more each? How very sad and greedy of them, eh? EXACTLY our point! But SFNE would like you to think they are taking your money for a good cause.

If you want to make sure your money is being spent in the GLBT community where you want it to be, we recommend making a private contribution yourself!

What should you do?

Go to Six Flags when the park is OPEN TO THE PUBLIC (like Saturday, September 18, 2010) and make your own donation to a GLBT charity of your own choosing.

No other amusement park company or chain plans private circuit party style events in the United States the way Six Flags Does - at the expense and hinderance and discredit of public events.

Gay Days at other parks like Cedar Point, Disneyland and Walt Disney World in Orlando remain open to the public (some also offer after-hours exclusive parties). After all, it IS all about GETTING OUT in PUBLIC to be seen and have fun!

A Little History

Confusion with the event we plan and the event dates spring from Six Flags New England’s decision to use our event name without our involvement (in 2008 they even used our logo) without our consent, to promote their “Private Party” event. SFNE is misleading everyone into thinking it is the same event we have been planning since 1997. It is not.

OutInThePark.info was only purchased and registered on 30-Jul-2008 by Six Flags New England management to confuse and mislead the gay community at large. They even pretended to be "unbiased individuals" and badmouthed us in public forums. All for their own financial benefit. The OutInThePark.info is also noticeably lacking in key details. Why can't Six Flags call it what it Gay Day and promote it as such on their main website?

OutInThatPark.com is a not-for-profit grass roots community network. We formed a more formal organization in 2004 to plan and organize the 2004 festival at Six Flags New England. Though we did a great job with 17 different acts, most everyone remained in the amusement park riding the rides. It seems best to leave shows, concerts and other entertainment for Pride Festivals, dance clubs and other after-parties where Superman and Batman will not be there to distract anyone.

Why after 11 years of our Gay Day event being open to the public, should we have to pay extra for the “privilege” of segregating us away from the public in a state where Same Sex Marriage has been legal for over 5 years? And why are other events at Six Flags New England open to the public and can allow season pass holders to simply buy an event upgrade ticket?

Back in 2003, SFNE came to us offering discount coupons and tickets to help promote and grow our event. We continued to work closely with SFNE through 2007. Over the next 5 years, SFNE continued to offer discounts and online ticket sales for our public event including a meal-inclusive ticket. For the 2003 through 2007 seasons, SFNE has always called us when they had coupons and postcards printed and ready for us to help distribute them. Unfortunately, this year, SFNE suddenly seemed to have lost our phone number and email address. It was not until we decided that something fishy was going on and started promoting our usual date of the 3rd Sunday of September, September 21, 2008, that SFNE was able to finally send us an email with the artwork of their postcards. Aside from SFNE telling us that the 2008 event was going to be an exclusive event, we did not hear anything else from them all year.

SFNE decided in 2008 to start their Private Party event on Saturday, September 20, 2008. We went forward with promoting our usual open-to-the-public Gay Day on the 3rd Sunday of September (9/21/2008), like we have done so since 2000. Clearly, this is a concerted effort by Six Flags to further confuse past attendees and to capialize on the our reputation of our Open-to-the-public event. (Saturday the 20th as listed on their site at OutInThePark.info). The SFNE “Private Party” event requires a separate ticket for admission and excludes season pass holders and any other discount tickets. It is important to emphasize that “we” at OutInThePark.com have continued to grow this public Gay Day event over the last 13 years, with attendance for 2007 at over 7,000. We accounted for over 90% of the park attendees too!

SFNE decided in 2009 to move their Private Party event to the 3rd Sunday of September, which has been the date we have held Out In The Park since 2000. Clearly, this is a concerted effort by Six Flags to further confuse past attendees and to capialize on the our reputation of our Open-to-the-public event. (Saturday the 20th as listed on their site at OutInThePark.info). The SFNE “Private Party” event requires a separate ticket for admission and excludes season pass holders and any other discount tickets. It is important to emphasize that “we” at OutInThePark.com have continued to grow this public Gay Day event over the last 13 years, with attendance for 2007 at over 7,000. We accounted for over 90% of the park attendees too!

It is the very network of family and friends that have helped us promote and grow this event, which have inspired us and motivated us to take a stand against the privatization and hijacking of our community event AND the unequal treatment that SFNE is offering this year. Along with the unauthorized use of our event name: Out In The Park.

We have received numerous emails requesting that we keep our community event open to the entire public, during regular park hours, so that ALL of our family and friends can attend WITHOUT having to be put back in the closet, paying extra fees to attend, or hiding from the public eye.

What we have found most chilling and disturbing about SFNE’s tactics over the past 2 years is how they systematically intimidated other fan sites on FaceBook.com and MySpace.com into shutting down. An obvious attempt to silence any dissenting opinions or criticisms concerning what they are really doing. What is the point of silencing parts of our grassroots network which has been a key part of promoting and growing this event for 11 years now? Maybe SFNE did not want everyone else talking about what they have been doing?

Our slogan for this event has always been “Out In The Park at Six Flags New England, The Biggest Gay Day at New England’s Biggest Amusement Park!” as the people who started this event, we feel obligated to protect what we as a community have built over the last 13 years and stand up to the SFNE corporate misinformation, and SFNE’s efforts to push our community back into the closet and out of the public eye.

After all, A REAL GAY DAY is NOT AN EXCLUSIVE PRIVATE PARTY!

Gay Days, are all about getting OUT IN PUBLIC!

Looking for something to do on Sunday, September 19, 2010?
Join us for
Out At The Fair at The Big E!
Celebrating 11 years of Gay Day at the Big E!