The need for LGBTQ Pride

Every year I seem to hear someone say "How come there is no Straight Pride Celebration"?  In case you hadn't noticed, heterosexual life is pervasive and permeates just about everything in our culture.  While things may be changing, especially in big cities, the anti-gay and anti-trans climate is still very present in so many places that people have to hide their identities.  Once a year at LGBTQ Pride Celebrations all over the world, people travel from smaller communities to be in a place where they don't have to hide - where, even if only for a few days, they can be themselves. 

 

LGBTQ Pride celebrations provide a sense of community to people who have so often been isolated and outcast, even from their own families and they bring attention to political or social causes that are important to LGBT people.

 

As someone (I have forgotten who) once said "Gay Pride was not born out of a need to celebrate not being straight but our right to exist without prosecution."  Indeed.  How many places can you think of where someone will go to jail because they are heterosexual?  Where is someone likely to lose their job for NOT being gay?  Think about it.

 

Do large cities like New York, San Francisco, London, or Toronto still need LGBTQ Pride events?  Indeed they do.  While there does seem to be more freedom and more equality in those cities than in so many places, the big cities provide a visible place of safety and a place where folks can and do come from all over.  That is also another reason to keep doing these celebrations.  They can be held up as an example to others.  Holding these celebrations also gives those in small towns and those who live in a place that lacks tolerance, a place to which they can escape.  Wherever you are this month, take some time to think about equality and being your true self.  Everyone should have that opportunity.
 

Some say there is a "straight Pride" celebration every day of the year. Ideally, we wouldn't have to use any labels. Every day could be a celebration of who we are, including people who happen to be lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender. We're sadly not at that day yet in most of the world.