People often misunderstand the meaning of pride for gay people like myself. When I was a kid, I remember that gays were stereotyped as "parlorista" (beauticians, working in the beauty salon) and nothing more. It even came to a point that we were typecast as clowns because we behaved "funny". I also remember the old folks say, when you had a queer son, his behavior is shameful because it's natural for gays to flaunt their limp wrists, unscrewed hips, pouty lips, shrilly irritating voices etc. Now that I'm an adult I look back on how the evolution of the gay community came to be and why is there so much noise behind the PRIDE Month everywhere around the world.
Historical Background: (from Wikipedia)
Gay pride or
LGBT pride is the positive stance against discrimination and violence toward
lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people to promote their
self-affirmation, dignity, equality rights, increase their visibility as a
social group, build community, and celebrate sexual diversity and
gender variance. Pride, as opposed to shame and
social stigma, is the predominant outlook that bolsters most
LGBT rights
movements throughout the world. Pride has lent its name to LGBT-themed
organizations, institutes, foundations, book titles, periodicals and
even a
cable TV station and the
Pride Library.
Ranging from solemn to carnivalesque, pride events are typically held during
LGBT Pride Month or some other period that commemorates a turning point in a country’s
LGBT history, for example
Moscow Pride in May for the anniversary of Russia's 1993 decriminalization of homosexuality. Some pride events include
LGBT pride parades and marches, rallies, commemorations, community days, dance parties, and large festivals, such as
Sydney Mardi Gras, which spans several weeks.
Common symbols of pride are the
rainbow or pride flag, the lowercase Greek letter
lambda (λ), the
pink triangle and the
black triangle, these latter two
reclaimed from use as
badges of shame in
Nazi concentration camps.
Pride precursors
Annual Reminders
The 1950s and 1960s in the United States was an extremely repressive
legal and social period for LGBT people. In this context American
homophile organizations such as the
Daughters of Bilitis and the
Mattachine Society
coordinated some of the earliest demonstrations of the modern LGBT
rights movement. These two organizations in particular carried out
pickets called “
Annual Reminders” to inform and remind Americans that LGBT people did not receive basic
civil rights protections. Annual Reminders began in 1965 and took place each July 4 at
Independence Hall in
Philadelphia.
"Gay is Good"
The anti-LGBT discourse of these times equated both male and female homosexuality with mental illness. Inspired by
Stokely Carmichael's "
Black is Beautiful", Gay civil rights pioneer and participant in the Annual Reminders
Frank Kameny originated the slogan "Gay is Good" in 1968
[2] to counter social stigma and personal feelings of guilt and shame.
Christopher Street Liberation Day
Early on the morning of Saturday, 28 June 1969, lesbian, gay,
bisexual, transgender and questioning persons rioted following a police
raid on the
Stonewall Inn,
a gay bar at 43 Christopher Street, New York City. This riot and
further protests and rioting over the following nights were the
watershed moment in modern LGBT rights movement and the impetus for
organizing LGBT pride marches on a much larger public scale.
On
November 2, 1969 ( my birthday!!!!) ,
Craig Rodwell,
his partner Fred Sargeant, Ellen Broidy, and Linda Rhodes proposed the
first pride march to be held in New York City by way of a resolution at
the Eastern Regional Conference of Homophile Organizations (ERCHO)
meeting in
Philadelphia.
[3]
"That the Annual Reminder, in order to be more relevant, reach a
greater number of people, and encompass the ideas and ideals of the
larger struggle in which we are engaged-that of our fundamental human
rights-be moved both in time and location.
We propose that a demonstration be held annually on the last Saturday in
June in New York City to commemorate the 1969 spontaneous
demonstrations on Christopher Street and this demonstration be called
CHRISTOPHER STREET LIBERATION DAY. No dress or age regulations shall be
made for this demonstration.
We also propose that we contact Homophile organizations throughout the
country and suggest that they hold parallel demonstrations on that day.
We propose a nationwide show of support.[4][5][6][7]
All attendees to the ERCHO meeting in Philadelphia voted for the march except for
Mattachine Society of New York, which abstained.
[4] Members of the
Gay Liberation Front (GLF) attended the meeting and were seated as guests of Rodwell's group, Homophile Youth Movement in Neighborhoods (HYMN).
[8]
Meetings to organize the march began in early January at Rodwell's apartment in 350
Bleecker Street.
[9] At first there was difficulty getting some of the major
New York organizations like
Gay Activists Alliance (GAA) to send representatives. Craig Rodwell and his partner Fred Sargeant, Ellen Broidy,
Michael Brown,
Marty Nixon, and Foster Gunnison of Mattachine made up the core group
of the CSLD Umbrella Committee (CSLDUC). For initial funding, Gunnison
served as treasurer and sought donations from the national homophile
organizations and sponsors, while Sargeant solicited donations via the
Oscar Wilde Memorial Bookshop customer mailing list and Nixon worked to gain financial support from GLF in his position as treasurer for that organization.
[10][11] Other mainstays of the organizing committee were Judy Miller, Jack Waluska, Steve Gerrie and
Brenda Howard of GLF.
[12]
Believing that more people would turn out for the march on a Sunday,
and so as to mark the date of the start of the Stonewall uprising, the
CSLDUC scheduled the date for the first march for Sunday, June 28, 1970.
[13]
With Dick Leitsch's replacement as president of Mattachine NY by
"Michael Kotis" in April, 1970, opposition to the march by Mattachine
ended.
[14]
Brenda Howard is known as the
"Mother of Pride", for her work in coordinating the march. Howard also originated the idea for a week-long series of events around
Pride Day which became the genesis of the annual LGBT Pride celebrations that are now held around the world every June.
[15][16] Additionally, Howard along with fellow LGBT Activists
Robert A. Martin (aka Donny the Punk) and
L. Craig Schoonmaker are credited with popularizing the word "Pride" to describe these festivities.
[17] As LGBT rights activist
Tom Limoncelli
put it, "The next time someone asks you why LGBT Pride marches exist or
why [LGBT] Pride Month is June tell them 'A bisexual woman named Brenda
Howard thought it should be.'"
Every month of June Pride is being celebrated by the LGBT community around the world. Main issues that the LGBT folks are fighting for (no particular order) are:
1. The right to be legally married acknowledged by the government in which state/country and LGBT member resides in.
2. The right to work in a safe/ professional environment
3. The right to health care (including people living with HIV)
4. The right to education
5. The right to legally adopt a child or raise a family
6. The right to choose whom to leave your money and property to when you die
(many more...)
The gay community may strike anyone as a carefree and happy place for fruity fairies but we are just like everyone else. We have emotions and fears, having this said, any form of law or governance which does not represent us or our needs, is the main reason why till today we march to the streets. We are capable, tax-paying, God fearing law abiding citizens. We are a productive and compassionate community that will not pass judgement, why? Because we know how it feels to be judged and sentenced even before the crime has been committed. We know how it feels to be bullied because of the way we smile, speak or dress, from the moment we step out of our homes as kids just to to school, we are exposed to all these dangers. It's a lifelong fight for our right to even breathe the same air as you. Some of us are not so lucky to even have parents who disown us because of who we are. Put away the preferences, the rainbow feather boas, the glittery heels and the beehive wigs. Strip us off our painted faces, we are all the same. We are someone's son, brother, sister, daughter, cousin, friend, office mate, boss, subordinate, teacher, student, patient, lover... We are all HUMAN.
HAPPY PRIDE 2014!!!!
*photo credits: www.partyearth.com / commons.wikimedia.org /www.iol.news.co.za/
