Remember the excitement, the daring, the novelty of it all?
Who would have guessed then that gay pride would have evolved into televised parades with major political figures in attendance, preceded and followed by a series of massive parties sponsored by giant beer and booze corporations?
I think it's a good thing to celebrate both ourselves and the progress we've made -- but what does this picture say about us? That gays are all about drinking, dancing, and entertainment? That now that we have gained a certain amount of acceptance - if not equal rights - we are too superficial to care about politics and activism?
And what about the future -- the young people who only know of pride as a weekend of decadent partying? Where is all of this leading to?
(cross-posted in "Gay Hot Men Over 40")
Who would have guessed then that gay pride would have evolved into televised parades with major political figures in attendance, preceded and followed by a series of massive parties sponsored by giant beer and booze corporations?
I think it's a good thing to celebrate both ourselves and the progress we've made -- but what does this picture say about us? That gays are all about drinking, dancing, and entertainment? That now that we have gained a certain amount of acceptance - if not equal rights - we are too superficial to care about politics and activism?
And what about the future -- the young people who only know of pride as a weekend of decadent partying? Where is all of this leading to?
(cross-posted in "Gay Hot Men Over 40")
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SF Bay Area
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Here in (Judy)Garland, TX, next door to Dallas-where they celebrate Gay Pride in September -we are hosting a documentary film night featuring independent gay films. See...tribes.tribe.net/dfwradfae...5bdd0aa016
I have already put out my pride flag for the weekend too. Not something you often see in the vast wasteland of suburbia.
hugz all 'round,
Esteban
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I do remember the beginning. A time to be seen & heard, putting a face on the unseen. The focus was recognition and validation. It was a stage of passage into the gay & lesbian releam of life.
The transition to this long, eleborate parade that is broadcasted locally and worldwide is better sweet. I now find myself on the outside, spectator/watcher, where at one time I was in the core & involved. We have come a long way but there is more territory to unearth for full equality.
The foot is in the door, just have open it wider.
Have a good Pride Day every day.
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Here in NYC, with the parade tomorrow..... I was thinking about this todayi as I walked Through Greenwich Village with a couple of straight friends. They didn't even know WHY there was a parade, let alone the history of it. The asked why it was such a big deal since "the gays" can do anything they want now... <SIGH>
It almost made me sniffle....
The bars with the weekend price hikes. The drug dealer on every corner. The baby strollers that now out-number the homosexuls on the street. It just really got to me.
I guess I'm just feeling the age, because, quite frankly, you wouldn't catch me dead in the middle of what the "Heritage of Pride" Committee calls, "A Celebration"....
It's sad, but I don't feel part of this spectacle at all...or to that communitee....
sorry... just venting.....
tim -
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sorry about all the mis-spellings, folk....
tim -
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i too remember a day when the whole parade thing was a lot smaller. scrappier, angrier, and probably a little tenser too. the first time i ever marched in a pride parade was in my hometown of san diego (bland diego, we called it) for which fewer than 1000 people showed up. the parade route went of 5th avenue, snaked through balboa park and ended up at the organ pavilion (that's really the name of the location, i kid you not!) where there was a rally for about an hour or so, followed by an announcement that the city had decided that they wouldn't allow any dance that afternoon, thank you-accompanied by some flimsy excuse being for zoning or safety or some such tripe.
i got to go to the parade in san francisco that year too and was absolutely blown away by how much BIGGER it was in every way. at the same time, however, it was still scrappy & angry and it felt good.
although i don't participate in pride much anymore-the whole corporatization of it along with the expense (can you believe it costs something like $25 to enter christopher street west?!!) has rendered it "no longer fun" to me-i won't begrudge today's celebrants as their whole reason for doing it and their whole context is completely different from mine. for them, it's a celebration of a period in history. for many of us, (the 40+ set, that is) it's a time we lived through. and i have to say, despite the fact that it was considerably more dangerous to be gay back in the day, as pride festivals were more fun back then, being gay was a lot more fun back then as well.
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In Detroit
06/29I remember the parades that had no one watching, but were for us the marchers. That was before corporate sponsorship and the vendor fair. It's all about the marketplace and sell stuff and not about community or personal anything -
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Re: In Detroit
08/04I agree some people have become corporate whores and sold GLBT pride. I remember the first pride I went to. It was the one where someone got killed by a float.
I also remember how people were really against the liquor companies advertising, because of the drug and alcohol addictions in this community, or the homophobia. Now these same Co, are in the fancy glossed magazines and flyers.
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June's Kink-e-Zine has an interesting article on Pride, including information on the pre-Stonewall riot in SF.
The article's called "Gay Pride: A Turbulent Past, A Colorful Present, A Promising Future" by Master Erik.
Here's the link:
kink-e-zine.com/
My first SF Pride was in 1982. I marched as part of a lesbian-owned business that was in Berkeley.
It was so weird to see all those wedding gowns and tuxedos at this year's Pride. Buying (literally) into heterosexual marriage symbolism strikes me as so wrong.
And while I want corporations to have to treat glbtqi folks equally (partner benefits, etc.), I don't like being a target market. Recognize us as a matter of human dignity, not just because you want our money.
Interesting times...
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I hate to say--- I have never been to a Gay Pride Parade. I have been out for over 25 years and never went to one. Not that would not go --- I just never have. But then again -- Im a Hermit.
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yeah, I posted something about this in my blog back a couple of years ago, and being lazy, here's my cut/paste of it.
"I kept hearing "Happy Pride", for some reason that struck me as odd and good.
I'm dating myself here, but I'm of an age where the pride parade was fierce. Where we marched in solidarity and protest. I remember being struck by a brick thrown by so-called Christians. I remember participating in Long Beach’s first parade, to find out there had been sniper threats.
That I'm living in an area where Pride is a holiday, a joyful noise and, in some ways, mainstream feels good. There are still places in this country where that's not the case. I do miss fighting the the good fight sometimes."
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You may not be old enough to remember Tom Lehrer's satirical ditties,
but his song called "National Brotherhood Week" always come to mind at Pride:
"Time to shake the hand of
Someone you can't stand
Be glad it only happens once a year!"
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Remember, this is the Queers over 40 tribe. I'll bet there are people who even remember Nixon!
I was just thinking of one of my favorite Lehrer lines, apposite here (especially considering he said it more than 30 years ago), "By the time Mozart was my age, he'd been dead for three years!" -
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feh! i remember JOHNSON! (lyndon baines, that is. not the bit of male anatomy).
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But isnt that the way of just about everything on earth.
Starts out with one kind of energy and changes into another and another and another.
By now, I've finally come to terms with the fact that the world and everything in my life
is sooo temporary.
Everything changes.
Nothing is as it was.
I find it odd that people are still surprised by that fact.
Although I remember back when and it felt "proud"
now, still but not as much.
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Yeah, the world changes... and (usually) not exactly in the ways we were hoping for. Just about every "movement" or "revolution" of which I'm aware has not had exactly the intended outcome from (an easy starting point) the US revolting against British colonial rule to the French revolting against their own monarchy. The Civil Rights movement has had mixed results. And so for Gay Liberation. All in all, I'd rather be courted by corporate America than shunned by it.
Yes, many gay people are shallow little consumerists. But this is just one of the fundamental flaws of identity politics: sharing an identity doesn't mean sharing values (Hello there, you Log Cabin bitches!)
Just compare -- to grab the first example to come to mind -- the St. Patrick's Day parades with Gay Pride parades. It's hard to remember now, but the Irish immigrants were once as despised as any other group you might care to name. No, the nature of anti-Irish discrimination and prejudice was not *precisely* the same as homophobia or racism, but it was very real. And what does the St. Paddy's Day parade "stand for" now? Compared to them, the Pride parades are the Selma-to-Montgomery marches.
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I remember when the Gay Pride Parade was "The Christopher Street Liberation Day Parade" . I booths at the end of the parade were informational and for real fund-raising (PAy a dollar and kiss a Person With AIDS). Now all the booths are corporately sponsored for their profit not the funding of glbt projects.
While I see the progress that has been made i the last 35 or so years.... we should still have the that ONE day for remembering when and where it started!
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if i'm there ...they are radical... You got to bring it!
Come on quenz...no more gay gap ads... please.
prides have often become another comercial venue for mass comsumption of crap!
Fight the main streaming programming!
aren't staight people beigh enough already... why must we reflect them?,
i say NO!- Not ! Never ! they must reflect us the way nature intended, we are the leaders and for runners of Everything
We are the fierce ones
We are faboulous,
and as it is was and should be...
Come - Now! Lets take back our rightful place in society,
let your freak flags fly!!!
Be the radical within and show it out Loud!
And Proud!
can i get an A QUEEN!
testify!
thank you
