The Idea of
When 1 was first coming out to members of the
conservative religious community in which I was
raised, many of the responses I received were not
what I had expected. They went something along
the lines of, “I don’t mind gay people as long as
they’re not flaunting it, like those ones in the pa
rades.”
Often when Pride is referred to outside the LG-
BTQ community, it is synonymous with extremism.
Pride is over the top. Pride is hyper-sexual. Pride
is threatening. So it’s left me to wonder: where did
Pride celebrations come from, and how did they get
the reputation that they have now?
Queer History
101 takes us back
to New York City
in the summer
of 1969. It was a
pretty' shitty time to
be queer, to put it
mildly. But in NYC
there was a thriv
ing underground
scene, mostly cen
tered around bars.
In June 1969, the
police attempted to
raid the Stonewall
Inn, but instead of
going peacefully, the
drag queens, bulldaggers and everyone in between
resisted. With the Stonewall Riots, the modern Gay
Rights Movement was born.
Starting in 1970, and every summer afterward,
marches have been held around the country to re
member the Stonewall Riots and to push for an end
to discrimination against LGBTQ people. As the
years went by, organizers began to call the marches
Pride Marches instead of Gay Liberation Marches,
rejecting the more radical elements of the early
movement.
These days. Pride in most cities is part political
protest, part community celebration, and in my
experience, a lot of fun. Yet there are allies and
community members who argue that Pride is coun
terproductive, unneeded, and doesn’t accurately
represent the LGBTQ community'.
By Kelli Joyce
As with most things in life, I would argue that the best
path lies somewhere in the middle of the extremes. I be
lieve that there are problems with some elements of Pride
parades, but I also believe that ending Pride as a tradition
would be a great loss for the LGBTQ community. Now just
as much as in 1970, there are plenty' of people who need to
be reminded that we’re here, we’re queer, and that they’re
just going to have to get used to it.
Without embracing sex-negativity, I think that some dis
plays of sexual behavior at Pride events have crossed lines.
A good rule of thumb? If I wouldn’t want to see a straight
person or couple do it, I
don’t want to see y’all do
ing it either. It’s not that you
shouldn’t do it. It’s just that
the middle of Main Street
might not be the best place.
We need to recog
nize that the leadership and
demographic makeup of
many Pride events is over
whelming controlled by
white and male-identified
members of the community.
We pay lip service to diver
sity, but our Pride parades
rarely show it. For Pride to
be a good representation of
LGBTQ people, it must represent all of us, not just those of
us with the most social power.
I think Pride is part of what keeps us, well, us. It’s the one
day of the year where we can be as queer as we want, openly
and fabulously, without reservation. It says we’re not willing
to slink quietly into the night and live our lives like good
little gays who don’t demand any change or any recognition.
Pride is a time of catching up with old friends and making
new ones. It’s a time of remembering and celebrating those
who’v'e come before us.
Some people may claim that they don’t have a problem
with most gays, just the ones who march in Pride. But as
someone who marches in Pride, I call BS. They’re threat
ened by our very existence, and Pride reminds them of it all
too clearly. Let’s not give them scapegoats like public sexual
displays and infighting to hide behind. Let’s make Pride even
more beautiful, and make them own up to their bigotry.