Why Pride Matters
I found an old letter I wrote to The Advocate a few years ago. Still applies, and very timely, considering it's Pride:
I'm writing in response to both Michael Levine's commentary on the non-impact of pride celebrations and Howard Bragman's disagreement with the position. (original context)
As a young gay man, I agree with Levine when he says that pride demonstrations don't make for better public policy. I think that the interpretation of pride parades has changed greatly throughout the years. The original generation of men and women who asserted that GLBT people do exist celebrated Pride for a much different reason than the party revelers today. We've all been sitting on our collective asses, enjoying the freedom and visibility of the original pride movement when the movement itself has stagnated due to my generation's apathy.
Bragman says that the gay community has grown and matured. Yet have we really? It seems that Pride celebrations have but one statement to make: "Yay! We're gay!" But -- and I mean this in the politest way -- so what? 38 states still banned same-sex marriages. In fact, the majority of voters chose to keep a monkey in the White House to ensure that gay rights activists don't get their way. The Pentagon still classifies homosexuality along the same lines as mental retardation and personality disorders, 30 years after the mental health community decreed that we are not crazy for finding the same gender attractive, and that sexual orientation has no bearing on how we perform tasks physically or mentally.
It seems that we've lost focus of what is really important. It's not the parades, and it's not the naked go-go boys dancing on phallic floats. Martin Luther King did not fight for the rights of African-Americans by playing up the virtues of fried chicken. Yes, eye candy is great, and nothing is more fabulous than a glamazon drag queen in her full glory. But how is that winning any fights for our cause? Pride has become a month of parties, and sadly, nothing more. It's taken on the same vibe as Cinqo de Mayo.
How many members of the GLBT community do anything to actually further our cause? Too few. We spent $5M to fight homophobia in public schools. The Christian Fundamentalist campaign spent $55M to prevent pro-gay programs. The combined resources of all our gay advocacy groups totaled $6.5M to fight the ban against same-sex marriage in 13 states. We lost in all 13 states. Yet we have a disposable income of $641B and spent $50B on vacations alone. Like I said, we've lost focus of what should be our top priorities.
Bragman says that Pride celebrations are an important reminder of the battles activists fought in gay history. That is very true. But honestly, how much of gay civil rights history do you learn in today's Pride celebrations? None. But I can tell you some of the brands I've seen that sponsor the event: SouthWest, Bank of America, Smirnoff Vodka. I can tell you which floats were my favorite in the parade. But where's the history lesson? Where's the original legacy that our pioneers fought so hard for? Where is the pride that inspires my generation to take the movement out of the 1960s and fight for the rights that everyone else in 2006 has? Heh. It must be in the go-go boy's speedo.
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The stats are a bit outdated, but I still stand by the original spirit of the article.