It’s that time
of year again when we pull out the rainbow flags and head downtown to celebrate
who we are. Sometimes we bring sunscreen, sometimes umbrellas, but we always
bring a sense of pride.
This month
LGBT Pride Parades will be held across the country and around the world to
celebrate what happened here in our state more than three decades ago. The
uprising at the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village in 1969 is seen as the kick-off
to the modern LGBT rights movement. That moment marked a change in our approach
-- we would now face the world with Pride.
Not to say
everyone was ready to do this, but that was the strategy. Let’s get everyone to
march through the city one day out of the year and celebrate their lives --
even if the other 364 days were spent hiding who they are. Especially
if the rest of the year was spent hiding.
Sometimes people wore bags over their heads in those first Pride Parades.
And through
the years the bags have almost disappeared and the marches have gotten bigger,
and we’ve found many other ways to be proud. Still, the march is what got us
here. Back when homosexuality was still seen as a mental illness, before we had
supportive laws, out politicians, lesbian talk-show hosts, Sage organizations, or
LGBT youth centers, a group of brave folks marched through New York City and other
urban areas to say they were proud.
Maybe some
of you who are reading this took part in the Stonewall riots or those first few
parades. Or maybe you read about them and found strength in the thought that
things were changing. Either way -- your actions in those early years, your
presence “in the life,” your courage to be LGBT in whatever way you could -- is
what we all build on today as we take our movement forward. It’s important to
remember that older LGBT people are the ones who made the progress we see today
possible.
Despite the
progress, we still have a ways to go. There are still people out there who are
unable to feel proud of being LGBT. There are still people who only show pride
at the parade every year. There are also those who can’t even do that. That’s why
we still march. To show mainstream society that we’re here, we’re queer, and we’re
proud. And to show our closeted brothers and sisters that the way OUT.
March with Sage Upstate in the CNY
Pride Parade on June 19! Hope to see you there
or at some other event sometime this month!
