irty-plus years after the first
N Gay Freedom Day Parade and
Pride Festival was held to
commemorate the year-anniversary
of Stonewall, is it time to move on?
Or is Pride essential to our self-defi-
nition and here to stay?

Some within our communi-
ty argue that Gay Pride is, at its core,
a mistaken concept. If being gay is
an unalterable given — like eye color
— should it necessarily make us
proud? Shouldn’t pride be reserved
for those who actually accomplish
things, which, the argument goes,
would eliminate many who turn out
for Pride parties but who do nothing
constructive towards securing full
LGBT rights?

Then there’s the PR argu-
ment. We’ve all seen the slick anti-
gay videos the Religious Right has
compiled from Pride celebrations:
guys in leather chaps and microscop-
ic underwear, lip—locked topless les-
bians, drag queens galore. Why pro-
vide our enemies ammunition by put-
ting our fringe elements on promi-
nent display every June? Even
straight allies and some gay people
are offended by these shenanigans. If
we expect equality, we need to
demonstrate that we’re just like them,
not sex-crazed freaks.

        
    
   
   

Keeping It Up For Pride

 

bit old hat. I can no longer wear the
clever slogan T-shirt/pink-triangle
buttons/rainbow-beads uniform with
conviction; it’s like trying to squeeze
into clothes I’ve outgrown. I now
look at Pride less for what it means
to me personally than for what it
means, period.

As a tool to effect change
on specific issues, I’ll venture that
Pride doesn’t mean much beyond
showing our strength in numbers.
Not that that’s insignificant: politi-
cians, for instance, pay attention to
numbers. I doubt more and more of
them are marching with usjust cause
we’re fabulous.

Increasingly, however, the
political point of Pride rallies is over-

A cleaned-up Pride would only
redirect the Right’s outrage
towards exposing our hypocrisy
in pretending our sexuality isn’t

about sex.

, Finally, there’s the argu-
ment that Pride is simply tired, the
embarrassing antithesis of postgay
chic. Given the progress we’ve made
since Stonewall, we shouldn’t need
to prove that we’re proud-. The con-
stant rainbow flag waving seeiiis des-
perately outdated, overcompensation
for residual shame. Whatever Pride
originally symbolized, it’s now about
kitsch marketing and empty feel-
good clichés. We show up, Pride
naysayers claim, because it’s an
addiction — time for Pride detox, the
sooner the better. _

_For someone in the process
of coming out, marching" for the first
time alongside hundreds or thousands’

.of LGBT brothers, sisters, and allies

can be a powerful action. At least it
was for me when I made my Pride
debut in Burlington eleven years ago.
Though I wore a baseball cap "and
shades to protect me less from the
sun’s rays than from the public’s gaze
(what if mine was the gay face
selected for the II o’clock news?!),
by the end of the march I did feel
genuinely proud: proud of my newly
brave self, of my fellow-marchers, of
those who applauded along the way.
Since then, I’ve participat-
ed in several more Vermont Prides
and in larger events like the 1993
March on Washington, Stonewall 25,
and a San Francisco Pride. Last year,
I attended Montréal’s Divers/Cite’
Parade and Celebration. Each was
memorable in some way, but the fur-
ther that first Pride fades into my
past, the harder it is to reclaim the
exhilarating sense of solidarity and
discovery it inspired. A Pride that
offers no surprises inevitably gets a

shadowed by the party, or muddied
by an unfocused agenda. It’s difficult
to speak to everyone at an event that
attracts thousands. Even more diffi-
cult when the message, you’re trying
to convey has to compete with blar-‘_i
ing music, festive floats, and lotsa I
flesh. Pit. politics againstlsex,‘ guess
which wins? 0 I
Let’s face it, while victories
on the road to equality are exciting,
the lengthy practicalities of achieving
those victories are pretty boring.
Filing legal briefs, attending legisla-
tive hearings, lobbying, voting: these
are not inherently theatrical endeav-
ors. And the one thing Pride must be
to survive a good‘show. A boring
Pride‘ is a dead Pride. , A
What makes for a gobd

' show is, of course, open to debate.

As much as I enjoy balloons, boas,
boys in bikinis, badassed bulldykes,
and bitchin’ babes of all genders, see-
ing minor variations on these same
themes year afler year gets tedious.
Oh, but how easy it is to criticize
from the sidelines. Those of us who
do nothing to push the theatrical
envelope have little right to com-
plain. We’re allco-producing this
show, even if corporate sponsors are
playing a greater and greater role in
determining the look of Pride, a look
that’s skewed towards — surprise, sur-
prise — young, buff, white, and male.
v One thing I don’t get is the
call for Pride to be more “discreet”
lest we offend the straight people, be
they allies or foes. Like our foes
would just baclcoff if we toned down
our parades. In fact — using Kirk and
Madsen’s assimilationist manual
After the Ball as their guide — anti-

gay websites are quick to suggest that
a cleaned-up Pride would only redi-
rect their outrage towards exposing
our hypocrisy in pretending our sexu-
ality isn’t about sex.

The Right’s right here: our
sexuality is undeniably about sex.
Wouldn’t it be odd if, within the car-
nivalesque atmosphere of a Pride
parade, we didn’t express that? Allies
who wish to avoid having their sup-
port for gay rights tamished by the
sight of assless pants and exposed
breasts can do so fairly easily.
Heterosexuals unthinkingly challenge
my tolerance level daily. Should
challenging theirs on occasion — even
if they are PF LAG Parents — auto-
matically be considered taboo?

Pride is an opportunity to
challenge both ourselves and the
majority. For a brief moment each
year, we control a growing number of
streets. What better time to temporar-
ily and creatively invert the social
hierarchy? The fear is that if we con-
tinue down that road, Pride (if it has-
n’t already) will become one big
orgy. Somehow I doubt it. I’ve not
witnessed much gratuitous nudity or
uncontrolled public sex at the Prides
I’ve attended, and trust me, I’ve kept
my eyes peeled. .

Montréal’s Divers/Cité
Festival (July 29 through August 4 in
2002) provides one hint of where
Pride’s been and where it might be
heading. In last year’s parade, 105
contingents marched, from Meres
Lesbiennes to the Urban Aboriginal
Aids Awareness Project to Gruppo
Italiano Gay e Lesbico to go-go boys
and leather daddies advertising bars
and clothing stores. The week’s other
major events included Latingazz,
modern ‘dance, a drag extravaganza,
street T-dances, and a Community
Day with group information kiosks
and curiosities like a dog show in

_ which prizes were awarded to the
“pets who most resembled their queer-

owners. ~
Interestingly, on the '

V Divers/Cité website (www.diver-

scite.org) one finds scant mention of
the fact that it’s an LGBT celebra-
tion, though a quick peek around

. makes it obvious. The emphasis, as

the festival’s title suggests, is on

diversity and.communi_ty.This_could . _

be viewed as an objectionable

3 dequeering of the event, a marketing‘
strategy, or an effort to be as broadly. "

inclusive as pgossible without com- '
promisingqueer content. I prefer to
believe it’s the latter. The 2001
Divers/Cité — which attracted 1.2
million overall, 750,000 for the
parade alone — reminded me of a
gigantic ethnic festival crossed with,
say, St. Patrick’s Day. Only instead
of playing Irish for the day, everyone
(not lucky enough to be born natural-
ly under the rainbow) played gay.
Whether Pride, large-scale

or small, will remain eternally rele-
vant is anybody’s guess. I personally
hope that it will bend with the times,
yet remain a place-where those at
every level of LGBTQ-ness can
come together in relative harmony
and find their own place — weather
gods permitting — under the sun. V

Ernie Mcleod, a native Vermonter,
will once again sample the delights
of Divers/Cite’ in Montreal this year
and perhaps pop in for our quaint
celebration, too. -

Elizabeth C. Campbell, CPA, PC
Certified Public Accountants

15 East Washington Street, Rutland 05701
802-773-4030 / liz@rallyCPA.com 7

Tax specialists serving individuals

and small businesses

Founder of the Rainbow Endowment
and the Rainbow Card which
supports our community.

See us at Pride Day
2002 at the Burlington
Waterfront!

Please call ahead and make an
appointment with Shawn Donald

 e

‘l 162 11.5. Route 2
Berlin, Vermont 05602

(802) 223-5232
(300; 696-7550 in vr

A GLBTO Friendly Dealer

 

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Adults and Adolescents

802-895-4993
55 Seymour Lane,‘ Newport, VT

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82 Church St., Burlington

sliding fee scale

(802)658-9590 ext.4