Pride this year was kind of special for me. Since coming out eight years ago, I’ve always stayed on top of politics and news relating to the LGBT community at least a little but since the release of Milk and the passage of Prop 8 I’ve dropped my old passive interest ways and become a bit more activist about things. So having the opportunity to march with the Gayglers and AIDSCare Chicago made the whole pride experience a lot more meaningful for me.
I think part of what really surprised me was the sheer volume of people that turned out. I’ve gone for the past few years and knew it was a big event but I don’t think it’s really possible to understand the scope without being in the parade. People were shoulder to shoulder the entire route and in many cases the crowd went so far back from the street that I wondered if everyone could even see the parade or if many were just there for the experience. For someone like me who grew up in a small town and didn’t know a single gay person until 17, that kind of gathering really has an impact.
I think my favorite sight from marching down that proud path was one woman with a picket sign that read “Proud to have two moms.” How great is that? There were a lot of these people out in the crowd, brandishing their signs of hope and support for our community. An old coworker of mine came with his wife and daughter. It was beautiful.
Of course after the parade it was back to the same celebrate and have fun drinking and eating amongst friends old and new, as it should be. But I wanted to take a moment of pause from the circulation of pictures and drunkeness to say thank you to everyone who participated in Pride 2009. For me, your presence was moving.
Hello and welcome everybody to Pride weekend 2009. I can’t imagine the reader of my blog who doesn’t already know the term Pride, the schedule of events, or the many ways in which they will intoxicate themselves this weekend, but sadly I predict that many readers have no clue why.
This year, be different. Have just as good a time, but also know how it came to be.
Forty years ago a little riot broke out in Greenwich Village in New York. In those days, police raids on gay bars were frequent. They weren’t there to break up fights or to check for drugs. They were there to bust people dancing with members of the same sex and cross-dressers (though somehow men wearing makeup were seemingly not an issue). Normally, patrons would go along with it, a few would be arrested, and the bar would reopen later that evening. On the night of June 28, 1969 things went a little differently, however.
It’s that riot that is now commemorated each year. Although “Stonewall” doesn’t necessarily mark the first time a gay man or drag queen stood up for themselves and it certainly wasn’t the largest or most impressive protest in the history of the gay rights movement, it does hold a special significance in how it inspired people not just in NY but all across the globe to begin standing up for their right to be who they are openly, and to be proud of it.
It’s the tireless work of gays, lesbians, transgender people, straights, and many others that has created the environment we have today. Where gay bars have windows. Where men can not only dress in drag but there are television shows about it. Where women are not required to have on at least three pieces of feminine clothing (Although ladies, I do encourage you to. I’ve been fooled one too many times for pointing out cute boys that turned out, in fact, to be lesbians with better hair and clothing than myself.) Living a queer life today is a far cry from the the way things were forty years ago. But our world is not yet perfect.
Tomorrow, when we all gussy up in our finest summer gear to march among our fellow celebrators of queer culture, don’t forget all the work that has gone into making it possible. And on Monday, when normal life resumes, do something a little different:
Stop discrimination dead in it’s tracks each and every time you see it.
Call your representatives and demand marriage equality; an inclusive, nationwide Employment Non-Discrimination Act; the passage of the Matthew Shepard Act.
Come out. To everyone.
And for god sakes, people, this one is really important:
Come together as a group. I really don’t understand why but we have an environment right now where all the different colors
of the rainbow are in separate corners of the room, backs to each other, with their arms crossed. The next person I see judging another person for dressing differently, talking differently, loving differently, or having a different color skin – I’m going to smack them from here to Perez Hilton (too soon?). We all have one common goal – to be ourselves unashamedly. We all know what it’s like to fail to live up to that dream. We should all be together because then we become the majority.
Now get off the internet you dork and go have a vodka soda (low cal, helps you keep your figure), do your hair, listen to some Lady GaGa, and get the heck out because it’s time to live it up for the weekend!
Further reading:
Wikipedia article on the Stonewall riots
