If you're straight then the picture above probably fills your head with all kinds of thoughts. If you listened to those thoughts than you might find that they're pretty ugly. Hell, even if you're gay you might find the same type of thoughts flowing through your head. Granted I think it's safe to say these four guys were going for a light-hearted look so go ahead and laugh. They're silly. But while you're having a good laugh ask yourself this: what and why? What is Pride? Why is Pride? These are fair questions, and there's a good chance that gay or straight, you don't know. If this is the case, read on then dear reader. Allow me to educate you. In this post I'll posit a few common questions and post my answers. Hopefully by the end of this you will walk away with a deeper understanding and respect for Pride.
Fair question. By now you surely know Pride as being a celebration of rainbows and all things queer, but what is it?
Pride is a celebration and stance against discrimination and acts of violence against the LGBTQ people. They're public demonstrations held and celebrated by both the LGBTQ community, and the heterosexual people who value them designed to promote their self-affirmation, dignity, equality rights, increase their visibility as a social group, build community, and celebrate sexual diversity and gender diversity. The rainbow symbol doesn't mean I'm a man who sucks dick, or a woman who eats muff. Rather it's proudly flown for any individual who is different and feels cast aside by their community. A symbol that screams this is your community and you can wear it proudly.
Pride started coming together as early as the 50's (as far as records show) by LGBTQ organizations and groups pushing for recognition and visibility from a world that would as soon throw them in jail for their differences than love them. Early in the US homosexuality was described and defined as a mental illness and was treated as such. Throughout the years small groups of LGBTQ would picket various establishments for visibility, leaving themselves exposed in a dangerous world. The justice system was pushing hard against the gay community, locking up people who fit the gay bill like drag queens, effeminate men, transgendered people, butch lesbians, male prostitutes and homeless youth. The Stonewall Riots was a famous event in LGBTQ history in which the police, on June 28th, 1969, attempted to raid the Stonewall Inn in Manhattan and quickly lost control of the situation when the LGBTQ in the establishment retaliated with violent demonstrations. This event is considered by many to be a cornerstone in gay rights. Following the riots, gay advocacy exploded bringing and forcing to light a community that had been cornered in the dark for too long. Gay rights organizations were founded across the US and the world and the next year, on June 28th, 1970, the very first gay pride parades were held in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago.
Pride was born out of necessity. Up to this moment gay sex between consenting adults was illegal in all states and there were no protections in place to cover members of the gay community. Men were beaten, raped, and murdered and Johnny Law had little to say about it. These demonstrations held by the community forced the country and world to see the gay community as much more than a mental disease and much more than sexual deviants. We were people too. We wanted to live and thrive like the rest of the world had. Yes we were different, but god damn it we were beautiful too. It forced the world to realize we're here, we're queer, get used to it.
Pride parades have been held annually all over the world since June 28th, 1970, and have been adapting to encompass more and more outcasts. To give a place to all of the freaks in the public eye. An event to celebrate our differences and love them in each other and ourselves.
What is Pride?
Fair question. By now you surely know Pride as being a celebration of rainbows and all things queer, but what is it?
Pride is a celebration and stance against discrimination and acts of violence against the LGBTQ people. They're public demonstrations held and celebrated by both the LGBTQ community, and the heterosexual people who value them designed to promote their self-affirmation, dignity, equality rights, increase their visibility as a social group, build community, and celebrate sexual diversity and gender diversity. The rainbow symbol doesn't mean I'm a man who sucks dick, or a woman who eats muff. Rather it's proudly flown for any individual who is different and feels cast aside by their community. A symbol that screams this is your community and you can wear it proudly.
Pride started coming together as early as the 50's (as far as records show) by LGBTQ organizations and groups pushing for recognition and visibility from a world that would as soon throw them in jail for their differences than love them. Early in the US homosexuality was described and defined as a mental illness and was treated as such. Throughout the years small groups of LGBTQ would picket various establishments for visibility, leaving themselves exposed in a dangerous world. The justice system was pushing hard against the gay community, locking up people who fit the gay bill like drag queens, effeminate men, transgendered people, butch lesbians, male prostitutes and homeless youth. The Stonewall Riots was a famous event in LGBTQ history in which the police, on June 28th, 1969, attempted to raid the Stonewall Inn in Manhattan and quickly lost control of the situation when the LGBTQ in the establishment retaliated with violent demonstrations. This event is considered by many to be a cornerstone in gay rights. Following the riots, gay advocacy exploded bringing and forcing to light a community that had been cornered in the dark for too long. Gay rights organizations were founded across the US and the world and the next year, on June 28th, 1970, the very first gay pride parades were held in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago.
Pride was born out of necessity. Up to this moment gay sex between consenting adults was illegal in all states and there were no protections in place to cover members of the gay community. Men were beaten, raped, and murdered and Johnny Law had little to say about it. These demonstrations held by the community forced the country and world to see the gay community as much more than a mental disease and much more than sexual deviants. We were people too. We wanted to live and thrive like the rest of the world had. Yes we were different, but god damn it we were beautiful too. It forced the world to realize we're here, we're queer, get used to it.
Pride parades have been held annually all over the world since June 28th, 1970, and have been adapting to encompass more and more outcasts. To give a place to all of the freaks in the public eye. An event to celebrate our differences and love them in each other and ourselves.
Why Don't Straight People Get a Pride?
Read the above answer. Next question!
Haha, I'm just kidding. Though this question I have heard in earnest countless times. Why don't straight people have a pride? The answer is incredibly simple. You already do have straight pride. It's called acceptance.
As a straight individual you don't have to live in fear. There wasn't a moment when you were young when you realized that you were different in a way that would force you to be cautious and careful the rest of your life. You can be on a date, and hold your partners hand and people will only look down on you out of envy, not out of fear. As a straight person you don't have to worry about how every non-straight person you meet will want to know the details of your sex life because they find it so fascinating. Seriously, you'll never be asked, are you a top or bottom? You've never had to come out, you've only had to be. Straight people live every day in this state of being. And if you haven't? If you've faced discrimination for being straight, well then, there's a spot in the pride parade for you after all.
Why Do Pride Parades Have to Be So Sexual?
This is a fair question. I have this funny feeling that people who have never personally been to a pride parade think of them as being like the picture below. As someone who has been to a few I can say, they're right...sort of.
Pride parades, like the community itself, has many styles, looks, and agendas. You have some people celebrating their gay family, some people celebrating themselves, businesses celebrating diversity, and you also have people who celebrate their sexuality. This is where that invisible line between sex and sexuality becomes a little convoluted.
Homosexuality has long been oppressed, and just being gay could be a death sentence. For a man to guess wrong and flirt with a heterosexual man could be a death sentence, and it's not as rare as you'd think for men to hook up with other men out of lust, and then react violently when the shame of social stigma sets about.
For a gay man, sexuality is really what sets us apart from straight men. Gay characitures over the years may have you believe that all gay men are effeminate, or have a "gay look" or "gay speak" but this is very far from the truth. Some gay men look and act just like the straightest of men. Some gay men like sports. I don't. Some gay men like drinking beers with the bros. Some gay men have wives. Some Being gay isn't a one size fits all. Neither is sexuality. Sex for gay men is a lot like sex for straight men. There are tons of kinks. Not all of them are hot candlewax on the chest. There are kinks like BDSM, anal fisting, golden showers, whatever the correct word for poo-stuff is, orgies, and so on. Sexuality has long since been this evil thing that people tend not to talk about, especially when it veers from the path of normalcy. What is ultimately a beautiful connection between two (or more) people is often put to shame.
In the early 70's gay men would often practice a ritual called the hankerchief code. You may already be familiar with the idea of cruising spots. Spots in a public area that gay men would hear about through word of mouth and flock to for sex. Remember, this was before a guy could get a booty call via a swipe on an app. Finding a relationship, though not impossible, was made difficult by means of conventional methods so gay men would use cruising spots to find other men willing to do the dirty nasty. The hankerchief code was a downlow way of letting the other gay men around you what kind of kinks you were into based off the pocket the hankerchief was in and the colour of it. A black hankerchief meant you were down for S&M, a dark blue for anal sex, green if you expected to get paid in exchange for services, yellow for...you guessed it, watersports, orange for anything goes, and so much more. There was a colour for almost any kink you can think of. For the longest time, this is how gay men communicated sex on the fly.
Fast forward to today, gay men can just include their kinks and fetishes on their profiles but the memory of the hardships endure. The celebration of the sexuality is not only important but it's also fun, and why live if you can't be alive?
Well, that pretty much sums up my mental capacities for writing at the moment. Hopefully I illustrated well enough and helped to answer some questions. Take a look at that top picture again. Those four guys doused in rainbows and over-the-top glasses. They're fabulous, they're silly, and most of all they're exercising the freedom of self-expression. They're celebrating the pride in their crazy and wonderful community. The pride in their sexuality. They're free to celebrate in a safe and public space the notion and idea that whoever, whatever, and however they decide to live their life, under the rainbow, they can be proud to so. It's the differences that makes each and every one of us—gay or straight, transgendered or cisgendered, masculine or butch—amazing and beautiful.
Happy Pride 2018!
In the early 70's gay men would often practice a ritual called the hankerchief code. You may already be familiar with the idea of cruising spots. Spots in a public area that gay men would hear about through word of mouth and flock to for sex. Remember, this was before a guy could get a booty call via a swipe on an app. Finding a relationship, though not impossible, was made difficult by means of conventional methods so gay men would use cruising spots to find other men willing to do the dirty nasty. The hankerchief code was a downlow way of letting the other gay men around you what kind of kinks you were into based off the pocket the hankerchief was in and the colour of it. A black hankerchief meant you were down for S&M, a dark blue for anal sex, green if you expected to get paid in exchange for services, yellow for...you guessed it, watersports, orange for anything goes, and so much more. There was a colour for almost any kink you can think of. For the longest time, this is how gay men communicated sex on the fly.
Fast forward to today, gay men can just include their kinks and fetishes on their profiles but the memory of the hardships endure. The celebration of the sexuality is not only important but it's also fun, and why live if you can't be alive?
In Conclusion...
Well, that pretty much sums up my mental capacities for writing at the moment. Hopefully I illustrated well enough and helped to answer some questions. Take a look at that top picture again. Those four guys doused in rainbows and over-the-top glasses. They're fabulous, they're silly, and most of all they're exercising the freedom of self-expression. They're celebrating the pride in their crazy and wonderful community. The pride in their sexuality. They're free to celebrate in a safe and public space the notion and idea that whoever, whatever, and however they decide to live their life, under the rainbow, they can be proud to so. It's the differences that makes each and every one of us—gay or straight, transgendered or cisgendered, masculine or butch—amazing and beautiful.
Happy Pride 2018!
Related Posts
Thoughts
Thursday, June 28, 2018
0
