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Queer folk have designated June as the month when they get to parade in the streets and otherwise celebrate being Queer: it's Pride month!
It's also the month when the otherwise non-political kinky dudes I follow on Twitter start arguing over what Pride means and who gets to take part and how people should behave while taking part.
Which is one reason why I find Pride so annoying at age 54.
But I also find Christmas annoying, so ... themed holidays in general annoy me ;-)
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Unfortunately the phrase "Gay Pride", later updated to "LGBTQ+ Pride", is a misnomer. What is today labeled "the first Gay Pride parade" was called a "Liberation Day march" at the time, back in 1970. Somehow some of the activists started calling it Gay Pride instead of Gay Liberation, and the Pride name stuck instead. And somehow we stopped calling them "marches" and call them "parades" now instead.
I'd much rather we called these LGBTQ+ liberation marches than pride parades. Because pride is simply an emotion, an emotion that is often negatively perceived by laypersons, psychologists, and spiritual leaders; whereas liberation is more of a tangible and lasting goal, both personal and political, that I consider much more important. Also, parades are things we do to celebrate holidays or sports victories, whereas marches are more confrontational, political, and meaningful. We are marching for liberation, or, we should be.
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More specifically, I've become irate at how many of my Queer siblings now tend to view Pride as a way to exclude elements they do not like, rather than a way to include as many sexual minorities and allies as possible. The worst example is how New York Pride -- the descendant of the original 1970 Liberation March -- now excludes individuals who work in law enforcement from marching in their parade.
But a more widespread example is the now-annual fight over displays of kink, unclothed body parts, and public affection. Some people who identify as asexual complain about overt displays of sexuality at Pride. Some parents complain that Pride events should be "family friendly", as though the mere suggestion of sex is dangerous to any children who are attending a celebration of sexual minorities.
Then there are the perennial arguments over the commercialization of Pride. All a corporation has to do is rebrand with rainbow colors for a month and they're now somehow supporters of the daily struggles that LGBTQ+ individuals face.
That I feel compelled to weigh in at all on these points makes me feel stupid. I feel the concept of sexual liberation, so palpable in 1970, has been transformed into something completely different, and I'm not even sure what this new amalgam is supposed to be. I watch friends fly to cities for [City] Pride, or make plans to go watch the local parade, and I feel more bored by it than anything else.
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In 2022, despite a recent Supreme Court decision holding that transgender persons are protected from discrimination, the Republican Party is making a purposeful and concerted effort to demonize transgender persons. It used to be that the "T" in LGBT was pretty much ignored by everybody except the Ts, but now they're under attack.
I'd much rather spend Pride Month focusing on the plight of those who feel oppressed by gender norms, and showing them our support, than by attending some sort of parade/festival or fighting over who should attend or how they should behave.
Transgender, nonbinary, and gender nonconforming individuals are under attack. We should be treating this as a crisis, not a celebration. Show your support by speaking up, by offering direct support or assistance, by registering to vote, by donating, by writing, and in whatever way you can.
And when the month of June ends, keep on supporting gender minorities. This cannot be a one-month-of-the-year thing. This is a long-term battle for liberation from gender norms. We may never win, but the battle is worth fighting.
Gender norms oppress everybody, whether they are cisgender, transgender, or agender; whether they are heterosexual, bisexual, homosexual, or asexual. Everybody benefits when we liberate each other from gender norms. This is not a matter of pride, but a matter of liberation. And the struggle transcends this month, this year, or this decade. I'm committed to liberation from gender norms. I hope you will join me.
It's also the month when the otherwise non-political kinky dudes I follow on Twitter start arguing over what Pride means and who gets to take part and how people should behave while taking part.
Which is one reason why I find Pride so annoying at age 54.
But I also find Christmas annoying, so ... themed holidays in general annoy me ;-)
-----
Unfortunately the phrase "Gay Pride", later updated to "LGBTQ+ Pride", is a misnomer. What is today labeled "the first Gay Pride parade" was called a "Liberation Day march" at the time, back in 1970. Somehow some of the activists started calling it Gay Pride instead of Gay Liberation, and the Pride name stuck instead. And somehow we stopped calling them "marches" and call them "parades" now instead.
I'd much rather we called these LGBTQ+ liberation marches than pride parades. Because pride is simply an emotion, an emotion that is often negatively perceived by laypersons, psychologists, and spiritual leaders; whereas liberation is more of a tangible and lasting goal, both personal and political, that I consider much more important. Also, parades are things we do to celebrate holidays or sports victories, whereas marches are more confrontational, political, and meaningful. We are marching for liberation, or, we should be.
-----
More specifically, I've become irate at how many of my Queer siblings now tend to view Pride as a way to exclude elements they do not like, rather than a way to include as many sexual minorities and allies as possible. The worst example is how New York Pride -- the descendant of the original 1970 Liberation March -- now excludes individuals who work in law enforcement from marching in their parade.
But a more widespread example is the now-annual fight over displays of kink, unclothed body parts, and public affection. Some people who identify as asexual complain about overt displays of sexuality at Pride. Some parents complain that Pride events should be "family friendly", as though the mere suggestion of sex is dangerous to any children who are attending a celebration of sexual minorities.
Then there are the perennial arguments over the commercialization of Pride. All a corporation has to do is rebrand with rainbow colors for a month and they're now somehow supporters of the daily struggles that LGBTQ+ individuals face.
That I feel compelled to weigh in at all on these points makes me feel stupid. I feel the concept of sexual liberation, so palpable in 1970, has been transformed into something completely different, and I'm not even sure what this new amalgam is supposed to be. I watch friends fly to cities for [City] Pride, or make plans to go watch the local parade, and I feel more bored by it than anything else.
-----
In 2022, despite a recent Supreme Court decision holding that transgender persons are protected from discrimination, the Republican Party is making a purposeful and concerted effort to demonize transgender persons. It used to be that the "T" in LGBT was pretty much ignored by everybody except the Ts, but now they're under attack.
I'd much rather spend Pride Month focusing on the plight of those who feel oppressed by gender norms, and showing them our support, than by attending some sort of parade/festival or fighting over who should attend or how they should behave.
Transgender, nonbinary, and gender nonconforming individuals are under attack. We should be treating this as a crisis, not a celebration. Show your support by speaking up, by offering direct support or assistance, by registering to vote, by donating, by writing, and in whatever way you can.
And when the month of June ends, keep on supporting gender minorities. This cannot be a one-month-of-the-year thing. This is a long-term battle for liberation from gender norms. We may never win, but the battle is worth fighting.
Gender norms oppress everybody, whether they are cisgender, transgender, or agender; whether they are heterosexual, bisexual, homosexual, or asexual. Everybody benefits when we liberate each other from gender norms. This is not a matter of pride, but a matter of liberation. And the struggle transcends this month, this year, or this decade. I'm committed to liberation from gender norms. I hope you will join me.