Why I don’t feel pride for gay pride

If you watch the news at all during the month of June, you’ll undoubtedly have the words “gay pride” enter your precious little ears.

And I wholeheartedly disagree with it.

Gay pride was established to honor the 1969 Stonewall Riots in Manhattan, which served as a catalyst for the gay rights movement. The Stonewall Inn was a popular gay bar in New York, which had laws against being a homosexual in public.

New York City police officers had been harassing bar-goers at the Stonewall Inn. Eventually, riots broke out in protest of this anti-gay harassment, prompting a national discussion of the gay community and its place in society.

After the riots, gay pride parades or “marches” were created as a peaceful alternative to riots to once again bring the topic of homosexuality into the public realm.

Now, as a gay man, my opinion is in the minority of gay men and women. Gay pride has, however, lost its purpose and original intent.

In an open poll by the Huffington Post, almost 53 percent of those who responded said Pride Parades are not good for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.

In that same poll, more than 25 percent of respondents said they felt gay pride parades “send the wrong message to the non-LGBT community.” Now, I want you to imagine we’re back in the 1940s and ‘50s, before the African-American community gained rights in society. Think of the stereotypes that were pushed upon them.

Now imagine if the African-American marches were full of black men and women living up to those stereotypes that were placed upon them.

Their push for equality would’ve undoubtedly been delayed by an even greater time span.

That’s what the majority of gay pride is.

Gay men and women are seen, whether we like it or not, as sex-crazed deviants who are flamboyant, alcohol-driven and shameless.

And, call me crazy, but the media-driven images of men in jockstraps dancing on floats covered in glitter isn’t exactly disproving these stereotypes.

Now, I agree that gay pride allows for those in the closet to understand that there are other people with the same sexuality in the world. And I feel as though it would be more productive if these people saw gay icons giving speeches, presentations on the movement, documentaries, concerts, etc.

When I was younger, seeing the gay pride parades did not make me proud. They made me embarrassed and ashamed. I felt as though the parades exemplified what I feared people thought of gays — weird, abnormal freaks.

Whether we like it or not, the majority of voters and politicians are heterosexual.

So when we as a community accept stereotypes and display them in public in ways that are not only brazen, but oftentimes bordering on illegal, we only set ourselves back.

If the gay community wants to have the same rights as everyone else, we need to understand that we should act as a part of the community, not as a sideshow.

­— ajguenth@indiana.edu
Follow columnist Andrew Guenther on Twitter @GuentherAndrew