June is Gay Pride Month. For the first time in history a President has officially proclaimed it as such. I hear and read many negative comments about the celebration: therefore, I will attempt a defense.
Gays have been grossly mistreated for years. We have been misunderstood, made fun of, physically attacked, bullied, reviled. We have been fired, evicted, discharged. Our homes and cars have been damaged. We have been cut out of wills. We have been denied the right to visit a loved one in intensive care. We have been denied the right of civil union or marriage and all the over 1200 rights (1200!) accorded to married people. Our children have been taken away from us. We are denied the right to adopt. We have been kicked out of our family homes. We have been beaten. We have been murdered. (Among my friends there have been two who were beaten to death on city streets and two now in wheelchairs.)
Worst of all, we have been brainwashed since childhood that we are perverted, vile, disgusting sinful. We know that we are viewed as an abomination. Many of us have commited suicide.
Can a straight person ever understand what our lives have been like?
We have had to lie and deny who we are for too long. Many, many refuse to do deceive any more.
Gay Pride month allows us to celebrate that we too are human beings. We appear in public without guise to let people know that we are part of this nation. We celebrate the ties that bind us as a reviled minority. We have joy in the camaraderie within our group. We find joy in being with others like us. We celebrate the advances that we have made. We celebrate our courage to stand up and say, "Yes, I am a gay American." We celebrate the future which will undoubtedly be brighter for us.
Can you not understand?
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Comments: 30 ( 1 removed by Leo Lemmer )
BRAVO! Well spoken~
and yes, I can understand from a VERY personal perspective~trying to stop a friend from being beaten bloody in a high school yard for his sexual preference while teachers turned a blind eye and other students cheered the beating on~I can fully understand the significance of June being declared as such~the pi** all of it all was that he and I got suspended for a week~
o, and just for the record I will name names ST. Peter's HS NB NJ 1980
I feel you. Though not everyone agrees, when it comes to the civil rights aspect of what the GLBT community want, those of us who have been in interracial relationships for more than 20 years, understand what it is to not be welcomed or respected. People who go back further know what it was like to be denied marriages and relationships because it was against the law for blacks and whites to marry in some states.
I don't want to be married myself, but I support any couple's right to tie the knot if they wish.
Every day is 'Straight Day'. They don't need a special day set aside to celebrate who they are and what they've accomplished. It's not like they get discriminated against and treated like second class citizens because they're heterosexual. They already have what homosexuals don't...equality and rights.
It's interesting the: Toronto pride parade (pictures from last year are on my flickr site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/geographer700/sets/72157605898877651/ ) is one of the biggest events in the city... period. It may have started with just gays, but many of my non-gay friends from work head down because it is a time to just be yourself. As we have developed more acceptance in the city, more people have come to participate along with us... but we have NEVER forgotten our roots.
Yesterday I went to a Pride event put on by the Ontario government union. It was very good. And work related, fancy that. (I'm going to get a post up about it soon.) We are certainly able to enjoy the relative openness in our atmosphere at work... but we are also quite aware that even within the government there are many who are treated as "lower" people because they are gay. That was one of the reasons I left my last job.
Those in power often have difficulty understanding what it is like to be discriminated against. Yet ALL of us have been powerless, vulnerable, abused... at some point. We just deny it. That is why Pride events are for everyone.
I think its awful how people are mistreated just for their sexual preferences.
Happy Pride month family and supporters.
I remember Stonewall, I remember butches and drag queens hit over the head with billy clubs, put into vans and brought to jail where they were raped for being what they were.
One day, they just said "ENOUGH".
We need to continue drawing that line.
I was going to say something snarky about who would attend a "straight Pride" parade, but thought better of it. Very good article.
I get it, and good for you.
I hope "human rights for all" will one day really mean "human rights for all"... black, white, gay, straight, other...
Well, I don't really care if people celebrate with a parade, or "month" or whatever. In fact I think there should be a "Vagina Pride" month. I do however think that some of the behavior displayed at these parades is "interesting" at best and not a very good representation of the gay people I know. I think the stuff that is reported and the images shown give gay people a "bad" name. I know not all gay people are flaming queens, but you wouldn't know that watching "gay pride parade" news coverage. Anyway... celebrate all you want. I hope its okay if I don't attend.
I do agree about some of the people, but it is their right to do as they please. These people are the ones who participated in the Stonewall riots, and I admire them for their courage. There are also firemen groups, Christian groups, parent groups, police groups, medical groups and on and on. Unfortunately the news media dwells on the shocking. n San Francisco one of the popular groups is Dykes on Bikes, seemingly hundreds of Lesbians on motorcycle bikes pass.
Many straight people attend for the fun.
You are excused from attending, but I think that you would have a good time and a new experience..
Yes, it is their right to act however they want, I agree. And, it is my right to think they are acting ridiculous.
I don't know if I would have fun... I don't go to parades much (gay or otherwise). And I can't stand things like Mardi Gras (anywhere that people are drinking and acting like idiots is a huge turn off for me... hubby and I don't do the "club" scene or anything like that --- something tells me we are too tame and would be buzz-kills!)
What types of things are done at these parades? I mean, if you aren't IN the parade, what do you do, just watch?
Responding to the question in the title:
As a practicing heterosexual, I don't particularly have pride about that. It's the way I am. And, I wouldn't be interested in attending a heterosexual parade.
But... I haven't had a lifetime of ignorant bigots, and ignorant non-bigots referring to my sexuality as an "abomination" or whatever less caustic but inflammatory label.
So, if somebody has Gay pride and wants to have a parade, they should do so. More power to them.
Yay the gay parade. The Stonewall riots should be celebrated every year !!!
i like parades
Come to ours. It is unlike any others and is full of joy and celebration. You will be welcomed.
Obviously I can't know what it is like to be gay but I know for sure it isn't a status I would choose due to the discrimination gays suffer.
I can't imagine myself being proud of being straight since I really didn't earn the status, it just happened to me. I could no more take pride in being straight than I take pride in having a Norweigian father. It wasn't something I did or earned.
But I can well imagine someone who is gay wanting to feel proud of themselves and to accept themselves just as they are without appology or shame. I think everyone deserves the opportunity for that.
I have a Norwegian mother --- let's have a parade on Gather for Norwegians! LOL
Next winter olympics we'll parade to celebrate our wins. Assuming there's any place left with ice and snow, of course. :-)
Thanks for posting to Fugitives from Ignorance, Conformity, and Peer Pressure
Of course there's no need for straight pride, straight people aren't usually made to feel perverted for who they are; which is the point you were making I think.
If it works, fine. The others have the Easter Parade, the Santa Claus Parade, the Fourth of July Parade, and probably more.
My responce to anyone who actually is stupid enough to ask that question: "Why not a Straight Pride day?"
I always tell them, you have PLENTY of those, they're called Weddings!
Not liking that, what about St. Patrick's Day parades? A parade celebrating an Irish Catholic priest who drove out the "snakes" (ie Pagans) from Ireland. Where everyone pretends to be "Irish" for a day, got out, get drunk in public from green dyed beer, puking on everyone and generally acting like idiots! Yeah...that's what I call "Family Values!"
No Thanks
Leo --- I can't believe you deleted my comment about throwing candy. It was a serious question. The only parades I've ever been to had people throwing candy. I was just wondering if there was any candy thrown at gay pride parades.
Heidi, I have never deleted a comment. I do not know how this happened. Sometimes after I submit a comment, I leave the post too rapidly for the comment to have time to appear. I've lerned to wait until I see it appear.
I am sorry that this happened.
Candy and beads are sometimes thrown by a group, but not often.
Oh, good! I was thinking that maybe you thought I was trying to be snarky and deleted me! Anyway...
Aren't all parades Straight Pride parades? Maybe what we need is a parade for feeling good about ourselves. No! Wait! Those are the charity 5-Ks, marathons, etc!
Remarkable things are happening in the gay community. Overall, I think it's been a very good year. Enjoy the parade, enjoy the month, enjoy your life, just the way you want.
Very well written Leo. I hope that people understood better after reading this post.