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| Forty years since the first London Pride! (S) |
How would you describe Pride? Gay Pride, like the parades, not just pride in general. If you ask people who are intimidated by it, they’ll tell you that it’s a hotbed of everything bad, that people have sex in the street, and that everybody only goes to it to get a sexual partner for the night. Worst of all, they usually continue, it’s full of gay people. And guys with assless chaps. The horror. Think of the children.
Now I’m not entirely sure what kind of Pride they’re thinking of, but a Pride without QUILTBAGs kind of sounds like… Well, like just a gathering of cisgender straight people. The idea of Pride is that everyone has an opportunity to be as gay as they want, whatever that means to different people, without fear of repercussion, I thought? Unless I was wrong, and Pride is actually about something completely unrelated. I don’t know, doors, maybe?
Colby wrote a few weeks ago about his experience at Pride (well, three different Prides - lucky him!), here. It sounds very much to me like Prides are the same the world over.
Similar though they may be, World Pride is a single event, staged in a different city each year. This year - for my first ever Pride - it was near me. World Pride
London had over 25,000 people in the parade alone, and there were many
thousands more cheering them on. One of them was me. I know, I know, you
wouldn’t take me for a door person, but I am. Except closet doors,
obviously.
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| The National AIDS Trust |
And you know what; I didn’t see what the problem was with Pride. Sure
there were a lot of scantily dressed men and women, but nobody was doing
anything untoward in the street. Oh, and the guy with assless chaps (who shall never be
spoken of again).
Certainly there was nothing to provoke the kind of rage I usually hear associated with Pride (except the guy with assless chaps) – and this was World Pride. The entire population of the Philippines (well, more like twenty people, but still) was there! There were also many businesses showing their true colours – Google, British Airways, Hilton Hotels, and Nandos to name but a few. There were political parties, and charities, and plenty of general people who wanted to walk in the parade.
Certainly there was nothing to provoke the kind of rage I usually hear associated with Pride (except the guy with assless chaps) – and this was World Pride. The entire population of the Philippines (well, more like twenty people, but still) was there! There were also many businesses showing their true colours – Google, British Airways, Hilton Hotels, and Nandos to name but a few. There were political parties, and charities, and plenty of general people who wanted to walk in the parade.
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| Amnesty International! |
Also, as the more perceptive readers among you may have noticed from my writer profile picture, my hair is a rainbow. Because of this, there are a lot of people
with photos of me on their cameras by now. I can’t find any online, but
they were taken, I assure you.
However, I’m not sure that the right kind of people goes to Pride for the right kind of reasons these days. No, I’m not talking about the guy with assless chaps (for once). I’m talking about the type of people who turn up to Pride for the party, who don’t even care about QUILTBAG rights. For example, one guy I know of turned up with his girlfriend to the parade. This in itself isn’t so bad – except he can’t really call himself an ally. He has harassed people for being asexual – to the point where he actually began phoning aces up to harass them about their orientation. Basically he was as deliberately acephobic as they come (deliberately as in he fully understood asexuality and that it existed… But he thought it was a good enough reason to laugh at someone).
However, I’m not sure that the right kind of people goes to Pride for the right kind of reasons these days. No, I’m not talking about the guy with assless chaps (for once). I’m talking about the type of people who turn up to Pride for the party, who don’t even care about QUILTBAG rights. For example, one guy I know of turned up with his girlfriend to the parade. This in itself isn’t so bad – except he can’t really call himself an ally. He has harassed people for being asexual – to the point where he actually began phoning aces up to harass them about their orientation. Basically he was as deliberately acephobic as they come (deliberately as in he fully understood asexuality and that it existed… But he thought it was a good enough reason to laugh at someone).
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| I don't think this group needs any introduction |
Even the guy with assless chaps wasn’t as much of an arse as this guy (sorry it had to be done).
I think that’s my only problem with Pride. People just turn up for the party. I mean, partying’s great, it really is, but we need to have a healthy respect for the fact that it’s our party, and as much as allies are great, homophobes, transphobes, and acephobes are not.
That’s what Pride means to me – a chance for everyone to enjoy themselves, to be themselves – whether fabulous or reserved, whether straight or QUILTBAG, whether male-identifying or female-identifying or both or neither, and whether your trousers have a piece of cloth covering your backside or not, you are amazing and wonderful and proud. As you should be. It’s not a place to go and get drunk because drinking is cool and edgy; it’s a place to go and get drunk (or not, in my case) because Pride is a place devoid of archaic ideas of “morality” and instead celebrates diversity in the community. It’s great, and if there’s a Pride near you I would say go!
I think that’s my only problem with Pride. People just turn up for the party. I mean, partying’s great, it really is, but we need to have a healthy respect for the fact that it’s our party, and as much as allies are great, homophobes, transphobes, and acephobes are not.
That’s what Pride means to me – a chance for everyone to enjoy themselves, to be themselves – whether fabulous or reserved, whether straight or QUILTBAG, whether male-identifying or female-identifying or both or neither, and whether your trousers have a piece of cloth covering your backside or not, you are amazing and wonderful and proud. As you should be. It’s not a place to go and get drunk because drinking is cool and edgy; it’s a place to go and get drunk (or not, in my case) because Pride is a place devoid of archaic ideas of “morality” and instead celebrates diversity in the community. It’s great, and if there’s a Pride near you I would say go!
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| Obligatory huge rainbow flag! |
Pride is also a place of great acceptance. Yes I know it’s kind of an
obvious statement, but I’m not talking about the people who turned up
for event itself. I’m talking about the ambulance service and the police
officers that were hanging about ensuring it all went smoothly. Their
reactions, above all, kind of made me feel like society’s majority view
was no longer against QUILTBAGs. Aside from a bit of general bemusement,
they all seemed pretty amiable towards the whole affair. Certainly I’d
never before seen a drag queen in a gold sequinned cloak having a chat
to a uniformed police officer, but it happened!
And that is why I like Pride. It’s shiny, it’s covered in sequins, and it doesn’t confuse and threaten the public as much as the right wing says it does.
And that is why I like Pride. It’s shiny, it’s covered in sequins, and it doesn’t confuse and threaten the public as much as the right wing says it does.
For anyone wondering - yes, all the photos (except the first) are ones that I took. I got a pretty good view! Next week I'll talk about the Asexual World Pride Conference, which was the day after Pride.
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