Gay pride? What about the rest of us!? No, I’m certainly not one of those people who actually uses not having “straight pride” as an arguing point. What I mean is: what about the majority of individuals in the queer community who aren’t cisgender homosexual men?
What started out as a radical political riot led mostly by trans people of colour/political activists has become a heavily corporately sponsored event… it’s become a parade.
I recently attended the Vancouver Pride Parade and Festival and was extremely disappointed, yet not surprised, to find that the main focus of attention was on the large flamboyantly decorated corporate floats selling products to those in attendance, carrying DJs and fit gay men thrusting and dancing sexily on stripper poles.
Yes, Pride parades across North America seem to be selling the “ideal” queer person. Those sexy, glitter-covered, white, middle-class, gay cisgender men.
I won’t lie and say I don’t enjoy having attractive looking people float past me dancing to club tunes on a hot summer day. I’m human and that combination of things appeals to most of my senses. But is this why Pride parades are socially acceptable now?
Personally, I prefer to see the community-run groups, services, and organizations supporting LGBTQQIP2SAA individuals and families throughout the year and creating awareness of and actively fighting against the many continuing queer struggles.
As I sat back amongst the clapping bystanders screaming and grabbing for bead necklaces and temporary tattoos thrown by police officers and, of course, Justin Trudeau, I felt a strange disconnect… like something wasn’t quite right.
It felt like a distraction from the reality of something bigger than it all. Here we are celebrating “Pride” amongst oppressors, their enablers, and bystanders. In fact, those very people are in the parade, waving and receiving cheers of admiration from the crowd!
Perhaps you can understand why I couldn’t quite bring myself to cheer along with the others as the Conservative Government float rolled by and I thought about how the federal government won’t allow me to correct the gender on my birth certificate until I have had invasive surgeries that I have never and will never desire.
Most people like to throw on their rose-coloured Elton John glasses during Pride Week and pretend like everything is gay and merry because, “Gays can marry in Canada!” Why aren’t we using this privilege, this power, the countless dollars spent, and our right to freedom of speech to fight for freedom of the individual?
Because we’re not all treated as equals. We’re not all free to express ourselves and live our lives as we choose. We’re not all recognized by the government, and we do not all have the basic human rights to which they promise us.
Let’s keep Pride political!
Spot on. What bugs me is the normalizing language I hear from people regarding Pride. “I don’t have a problem with gay people, but do you have to dance half naked in the streets during pride? I shouldn’t have to explain that to my children.” What people don’t realize is Pride is so not about “normalizing.”
The queer community is pressured or outright told to assimilate the other 364 days a year, so forgive me that I offended your Stepford Wife bourgeois sympathies by having fun and being myself without inhibition for a few hours on a beautiful day in the summer.
Oh yeah, and confused little Johnny? This might come as a surprise, but it helps kids make sense of the world when you talk to them.