Pride: Celebration, Community, Visibility, and Protest (Blog)

Blog

Jun 1

Introduction

Pride as we know it today consists of marches, parades, festivals, and other various events that give both visibility and a voice to queer people around the world. In many cities, Pride is an annual occasion where queer people, allies, and supporting brands and businesses come together to celebrate the queer community. Now that we have entered Pride Month, I wanted to take some time to share some of the history of Pride – and discuss the role that Pride has today.

Pride: A Historical Look

Throughout the 1960s, the Stonewall Inn and other LGBTQ+ bars were frequently raided by the police to check IDs and look for “immoral” behaviour. The raid on June 28 in 1969 was met with an uprising. Inn-goers and members of the local community gathered to protest on Christopher Street, just outside the venue, and resisted the unjust and violent arrest. Drag queens formed a dancing can-can kick line in the street and chanted and mocked their assailants. This symbolized an important shift – the queer community mobilizing against its oppressors. To date, the uprising at Stonewall Inn gave way to a more militant fight for queer rights and liberation.

In the wake of the Stonewall Uprising, the Gay Liberation Front (GLF) was formed in New York in 1969. Its aim is to dismantle social institutions such as gender and the nuclear family and achieve sexual liberation for all. It was the first organization in the United States to explicitly use the word ‘gay’ in the name. In their 1971 manifesto, they stated: “We must root out the idea that homosexuality is bad, sick or immoral, and develop a gay pride.”

The term ‘Pride’ in reference to the queer community was first used in 1967 by a group calling themselves Personal Rights in Defense and Education (PRIDE). They were protesting outside the Black Cat Tavern in Los Angeles, which had been subject to a series of increasingly brutal raids by the police, including a particularly cruel raid on New Year’s Eve when plain-clothed officers waited until the queer patrons were kissing to celebrate the new year to burst in and violently arrest them. The PRIDE group raised funds for those arrested and ran a newsletter. Though they eventually dissolved, the name was catchy and embodied the values that those in the queer liberation movement wished to promote.

The Stonewall Uprising, combined with increasing queer activism and organizing, led to the first Pride celebration which occurred in June 1970. This included a week-long celebration that culminated in a march of around 150 people from Washington Center to the Civic Center. The next day, two separately organized marches took place in New York and Los Angeles, both named after Christopher Street, the location of Stonewall Inn. This kicked off other Pride events around the world, including in the UK (1972), Finland (1975), France and Spain (1977), Mexico and Australia (1978).

Pride Events in Canada

The first large-scale public demonstration for gay rights in Canada occurred in August 1971. The Toronto Gay Action (TGA) coordinated a rally of numerous gay groups and a list of demands that dealt with federal legislation, known as “We Demand”. This helped inspire consistent and sustained national queer organizing in Canada through various conferences hosted throughout the 1970s, and the first Pride celebrations which began in 1973.

A significant shift in Canada’s Pride landscape occurred in 1998 with the creation of “Blockorama”, a day-long celebration of Black diasporic culture and music held at Toronto’s Pride festival. The explicit aim was to create a large presence of Black queer people taking up and creating space for themselves. The creation of Blockorama was – and continues to be – essential in maintaining Pride’s political roots, mixing the need for spaces of celebration with collective work against racial and sexual violence. This fight continued in 2016, when Black Lives Matter Toronto halted the Toronto Pride Parade for about 30 minutes, sitting in protest to call attention to anti-Black violence within the queer community and in the city of Toronto more broadly.

Similarly, the first Trans Pride event occurred in 1997 and was an arts festival entitled ‘Counting Past 2’ (1997-2002). The festival's goal was to be more inclusive and encouraging of trans artists than mainstream gay and lesbian film festivals by centering trans voices, accepting less-polished work and including cabaret and performance components instead of restricting submissions to films. The first Trans protest occurred in Quebec in 2010, which included community organizations advocating for the rights of trans people and leading public figures from legal, academic, and political sectors.

The Role of Pride

Pride is, first and foremost, rooted in protest against oppressive systems. Today, I believe that Pride represents four key things – celebration, community, visibility, and protest. For the remainder of this blog, I will take some time to define each of these concepts, discuss their relation to the idea of Pride, and share a quote from a queer activist that I believe relates to this particular concept.

Celebration

“Celebration” is defined as honouring or otherwise marking an occasion, person, or moment in time. Pride offers a wonderful and important opportunity for queer people to celebrate their gender and sexuality in a way that they may not otherwise be able to. Unfortunately, many queer folks may fear wearing Pride-themed clothing, accessories, or other items that could inadvertently ‘out’ them as being queer, thus potentially placing them at risk for experiencing violence. Some queer people are not allowed to fully express themselves in places of employment or education, which may have explicit policies against such expression (e.g. requiring them to cover up tattoos, not wear piercings, gendered dress codes, no jewelry or buttons). Thus, Pride gives people the opportunity to wear what makes them feel comfortable, happy, and affirmed – knowing that they (hopefully) will not be judged by other Pride attendees. This is an act of celebration, by encouraging people to celebrate their bodies and selves.

Pride is also a celebration in that it is fun! Pride events are often diverse, ranging from live performances to drag storytimes, vendors markets and games nights, parades, protests, social gatherings, and more. People can participate in events that they enjoy and find fun, thus contributing to the overall feeling of celebration. Anyone who has attended a Pride event before will likely comment that the atmosphere is generally positive, welcoming, and celebratory. People are happy to have this shared space where they can be themselves.

Celebrating ourselves in a world that encourages internalized oppression and shame is a revolutionary act. As queer and trans writer Eli Clare says, “Pride works in direct opposition to internalized oppression. The latter provides a fertile ground for shame, denial, self-hatred, and fear. The former encourages anger, strength, and joy. To transform self-hatred into pride is a fundamental act of resistance.”

Community

“Community” is defined as a group of people with a particular characteristic or goal in common. The idea of community has always been central to queer movements, with references typically made towards the ‘queer community’ or ‘LGBTQ+ community’. Within a queer and Pride context, community is about a chance to gather with people who hold similar identities and experiences to you. Many queer people have, at some point in our lives, experienced the reality of being the only (out) queer person in a specific space (whether that be at work, school, in an organization, etc). This can be incredibly isolating, and it can sometimes be hard to find other queer people; this can particularly be true in more rural cities where there may not be a visible queer presence such as a queer village or queer meeting spot.

Thus, Pride provides an important chance for folks to gather in community with one another, a chance for us to connect with people who share similar identities and experiences, a chance to affirm our own identities and experiences, and a chance to combat isolation (a tool of oppression) by building strong connections with one another. Pride also offers a chance to have spaces specifically by and for those in the queer community (with some spaces not being open to allies). This can be important so that people can feel safe(r) to open up and connect with one another, without fearing judgment or inappropriate questions that can sometimes come from (even well-intentioned) allies.

Additionally, the idea of gathering in a community is a direct challenge to the ways that oppressive systems intentionally isolate people through shaming them into believing they are the only ones who feel this way or have experienced this. Once communities can gather, talk to each other, and find that common ground, this provides opportunities for mobilizing and solidarity against oppressive systems. As poet Alok Vaid-Menon states, “We represent possibility. We represent choice, being able to create a life, a way of living, a way of loving, a way of looking that’s outside of what we’ve been told that you should be.”

Visibility

“Visibility” is defined as the state of being able to see or be seen. Queer people are far too often intentionally made invisible by cisheteronormative systems that suggest queerness and transness is ‘abnormal’. Thus, Pride represents a direct counter to these systems by taking queer people out of the closets and into the streets. As trans actress Laverne Cox states, “It is revolutionary for any trans person to choose to be seen and visible in a world that tells us that we should not exist.”

Visibility, in addition to being a revolutionary challenge to oppression, serves a different and important role. Some queer and trans folks, and folks who are questioning their sexuality or gender may not feel comfortable attending Pride; meanwhile, some queer folks remain in the closet for any number of reasons, often revolving around (physical, emotional, financial) safety considerations. Thus, even though these individuals may not be able to attend Pride, they can still see themselves in the attendees and see the support and solidarity from the wider community, thus hopefully helping them feel more comfortable as themselves.

Another key part of visibility is educating non-queer folks. Some cisgender and heterosexual people may not have any (known) queer people in their lives; thus, having a day/week/month dedicated to the queer community and education surrounding the queer community can be an important opportunity to help educate them about the realities of being queer and how to better support queer folks. This can also encourage people to become more active advocates, allies, and accomplices within the wider community and society. Visibility through Pride can thus provide an important opportunity for learning.

Protest

“Protest” is defined as a statement or action that expresses disapproval of or objection to something. Pride is an inherently political action, and is rooted in protest against oppressive systems. Thus, until these oppressive systems are fully dismantled, Pride will always be a protest. When queer people intentionally celebrate themselves, we counter messages of shame and internalized oppression. When queer people gather in a community, we protest the systems that keep queer people isolated. When queer people are intentionally visible, we challenge the lack of representation and attention given to queer people and queer issues. Each of these is an act of protest.

Protest is inherently ingrained within the idea of Pride. We have seen how Pride has evolved throughout the years to be more intentionally diverse and inclusive (though we still have a ways to go). We have seen increasing awareness of how different systems of oppression are linked, and thus this leads to the need for increasing solidarity amongst movements. Pride is a protest against hate, discrimination, and violence that occurs interpersonally and systemically.

As a form of protest, Pride represents hope for the future that we want to build – one that is free from homophobia, transphobia, racism, sexism, ableism, and all other forms of bigotry. As activist Marsha P. Johnson states, “No pride for some of us without liberation for all of us.”

Conclusion

Some queer activists argue that while Pride began as a way for queer people to register their opposition to the state and its homophobia and transphobia, it has been sanitized and depoliticized in the era of gay rights. This is particularly shown in the fact that some Pride events permit police and non-affirming politicians and corporations to participate. While debates about the nature and purpose of Pride continue, collective marches and celebrations can still do crucial political work in opposing anti-queer violence and imagining alternatives to state oppression. Thus, Pride maintains a critical role in providing opportunities for celebration of identity, gathering of community, visibility of queerness, and protest against oppression.

Some of the excerpts and quotes used in this blog were drawn from the following books – these are wonderful resources to learn more about queer Pride and queer history.