Gay Pride – Sunday, June 28
Pride can be a powerful thing. It’s a terribly strong emotion.
You can be proud about any number of things in your life –
from your nationality to your ethnicity, your gender to your
sexuality. You can even be proud about things that you get to
decide and control: such as your religion or an adopted home.
There’s no doubt that pride can also be dangerous. It’s often
blinding and narrows one’s view. But for those people that are
open to understanding and appreciating other cultures, pride
can be powerful and useful.
This month marks the 46th anniversary of the gay pride
movement. Each June, LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual,
Transgender) people around the world gather together within
their communities to celebrate – to remind ourselves what has
been accomplished within this movement, and to push to keep
working toward full equality. But how did all this begin?
Back on July 28, 1969, in the hotbed of political and social
activity that is New York’s Greenwich Village, police raided
a small tavern known as the Stonewall Inn. In those times,
there were not many places where people could be openly
gay – not only in NYC, but pretty much anywhere in the
world, as laws prohibited homosexuality in public and police
continuously arrested people for simply being themselves. This
particular night though, a group of customers at Stonewall
took a stand against police and a riot ensued. For the next six
days, demonstrations of varying intensity in support of gay
rights took place throughout the city and soon spread across
the country These Stonewall riots, as they came to be known,
marked a major turning point for gay civil rights in the United
States and around the world –the genesis of the gay pride
movement today.
So why Gay Pride, you may ask? Well, it is not just about
parades and parties, or even celebrating violent protests
back in the day. It has evolved into a celebration of life, love
and liberty. It is about being true to oneself, being visible –
belonging to a community, a city, a nation, and the world.
It’s about spreading hope that not only are things getting
better but things will continue to improve because we won’t
forget the battles, the lives lost and the pain suffered that now
affords gay people a growing list of equal rights in the United
States. There’s pride in being out and open. And in most of
the USA, it takes a Pride Parade for LGBT people to be able
to do that. To allow ourselves to be who we are and express
ourselves openly isn’t something that has always been able to
be accomplished on a daily basis…thankfully the times they
have been a changin’.
Gay Pride is about caring and responsibility. We care for our
community and we want to express that it is important. We
want our community to kick shame to the curb and celebrate
the amazing lives we are living. We want to take pride in our
community activism, take pride in our relationships and take
pride in ourselves as individuals. Gay Pride is the celebration
of life, human rights and ultimately the right to love whomever
we want – that is always worth celebrating.
Central Florida has its own gay pride parade, although with
the hubbub that is Gay Days (a nearly week-long celebration
which annually attracts to Orlando nearly 200,000 LGBT
people of all ages, races and beliefs and often with their family
and friends) taking place during the first weekend of June, the
pride celebration here is celebrated in the fall. Come Out with
Pride Orlando 2015’s festivities will take place on Saturday,
October 10th. The areas surrounding Downtown Orlando’s
Lake Eola Park is filled with families, friends, rainbows, music,
over 100 vendors, and all graciously sponsored by major area
corporations and organizations…oh, and of course, there’s the
parade and a fantastic fireworks display!
Since that catalytic night in 1969, the gay movement has made
tremendous strides. Although sometimes faced with disdain
or oppression from naysayers, for the most part LGBT peoples
are able to hold their head high and commingle with their
fellow neighbors. Even in a small suburban city such as Winter
Garden, things have changed tremendously and we embrace
the friendships and relationships we have with all people in
our neighborhoods and we proudly appreciate and applaud
their acceptance. Florida, along with 36 other states in the
US, approved the freedom to marry for same-sex couples, as
has 19 countries worldwide – an astonishing achievement for
the equality of all. So the next time you may wonder what
gay pride is all about, think of it as someone taking pride in
themselves, in the community with which they identify, and
in the their beliefs and love of others. Because when it comes
down to it, all of us, regardless of beliefs, orientation, gender, or
ethnicity, need realize we’re all here in one city, one world and
celebrate one love – the life we are each given to live each day.
Live it, celebrate it, and be proud.