gay pride festival : Gay & Black Glossary

I consider the term gay pride a silly notion. It is like being proud of being left handed. It is not an accomplishment or even a choice. If we want others to stop making such a big fuss about our sexuality, so should we. Instead, we should stubbornly insist on strict equality with straight people rather than mindlessly celebrating our superiority for being gay. Pride is an ugly word. It is little different from celebrating gay sloth, gay lust, gay greed or gay shallowness.

Others feel that we need pride to compensate for the pointless shame so many feel. To me, that is just replacing one lie with another. Certainly you can be proud of standing up to abuse, or for living openly but not simply for being gay. It is certainly worth celebrating that we can now have a gay parade without fear of being beaten up or killed.

If we try to pretend gay is better, which to me is what gay pride has become, then we rightfully deserve to get smacked down. It is the same bullshit that Christians try to pull on us.

Gay pride celebrations help relax the general public to tolerate diversity, but the celebrations are sometimes as in your face as Mardi Gras. If the only time you ever officially encountered straights were during Mardi Gras, it would give you a warped picture of what they are like. We need more than just a wild costume party to introduce us gays to the community at large. We need to show them our full diversity.

I would like to see gay pride celebrations evolve much like the ethnic diversity celebrations held each summer in Vancouver. Each group shows off its music, food, dancing, art, games, sports, children’s activities, story telling etc. to the community at large. It is a very inclusive thing. This inclusiveness seems to be happening naturally with gay pride festivals.

Gay Pride Day just needs a new name, perhaps simply Gay Day, or perhaps something politically correct like Gender and Sexual Diversity Day.

What if you heard there was a Greek Pride day? Would not the first thing you ask be ‘What’s wrong with Greeks? or Why are they so ashamed of themselves they need such a celebration?’