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Pride parades have been around and boisterous for nearly half a century, with pride celebrations growing in number and power every year. If you have been to a pride parade, then you know exactly what it is like to be surrounded by an abundance of vibrant colors, unapologetic personalities and empowering kindness.
If you haven’t, however, then Frances Goldin could probably tell you a few stories.
Earlier this year, a Buzzfeed article about the 92-year-old woman who has attended pride for over 30 years went viral. Every time she goes to a pride parade, Goldin holds the same sign that reads, “I adore my lesbian daughters. Keep them safe.”
“Since the beginning of the parade, I’ve been going and waving my sign,” Goldin tells Buzzfeed. “It sort of hit a nerve with people, particularly those whose parents rejected them. The response to the sign is always so great – it urges me to keep going.”
But aside from this woman’s unceasing support for the LGBTQ community, what makes pride so special?
The first pride parade was held in order to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the 1969 Stonewall riots. Also known as the Stonewall uprising, these weeklong protests were a series of violent confrontations between police and gay rights activists outside the Stonewall Inn, a well-known gathering for young gay men, lesbians and transgender people in New York City’s Greenwich Village.
During that time, the solicitation of homosexual relations was deemed “illegal” in New York City and virtually all other urban locations. Thus, gay bars were “places of refuge where gay men and lesbians and other individuals who were considered sexually suspect could socialize in relative safety from public harassment,” writes Britannica.
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On Saturday, June 28, 1969, nine policemen entered Stonewall Inn and arrested the employees for selling alcohol without a liquor license. But, as Britannica writes, in accordance to New York criminal statute at that time, the officers were also permitted to arrest “anyone not wearing at least three articles of gender-appropriate clothing.” Thus, several other men and women were taken into custody.
However, those who weren’t arrested began throwing bottles and debris at the officers. Eventually, policemen called for reinforcements and barricaded themselves inside the bar, trying to fend off around 400 rioting community members. Once the barricade was breached, the protesters set the bar on fire. The LGBTQ community revolted for the next several days.
Even if the Stonewall riots did not exactly initiate the gay rights movement, Britannica argues that it “did serve as a catalyst for a new generation of political activism.” According to the PBS “Stonewall Uprising” documentary, attendees of the first pride parade a year later “described their fear and trepidation that day.” But, as the men and women began making their way from Christopher Street to uptown Manhattan, hundreds of supporters joined in. These people held various gay pride banners and began chanting, “Say it clear, say it loud. Gay is good, gay is proud.”
As the LGBT rights activists say in the documentary, “In every gay pride parade, every year, Stonewall lives.”
During a time when members of the LGBTQ community were deemed “horrendous,” before queer celebrities and activists like Ellen DeGeneres and Janet Mock were accepted and before gay marriage became legalized in the United States, queer bodies were harassed, killed or unacknowledged.
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In Katherine McFarland Bruce’s book titled, “Pride Parades: How a Parade Changed the World,” she writes, “Pride parades aim to increase the visibility of LGBT people. Early Pride pioneers marched with the rallying cry, ‘Out of the bars and into the streets,’ declaring their intention to make their gay presence known.”
These marches are a way to show people outside the LGBTQ community that the negative stigmas surrounding queer labels are wrong. These people aren’t “evil” or “vile.” Rather, they are your family members, your friends or your co-workers. They are your loved ones, demanding to be accepted as they are.
Jordan Roth, founder and CEO of Culturalist, tell The Huffington Post that every year he is asked, “Why do they have to put it out there like that? Why the leather, feathers, skin, whatever?” To that, he responds, “Why? To be seen. To demand to be seen. It’s an act of defiance if you don’t want to see me, but ultimately an act of generosity if seeing me helps you understand me.”
And this is what men and women are doing all around the world. From the United States to Brazil to Germany, various LGBTQ people show their pride by parading, waving the rainbow flag and just being themselves.
When you live in a world that often doesn’t understand your identity, then you need people in your life who support you. Pride marches are a time for queer community members to band together in unity, love and acceptance.
Today, pride parades allow diverse people to express who they are while surrounded by a supportive community. As Mashable writes, modern-day parades now include dance parties, “best dressed in drag contests,” creative floats and celebrity appearances. LGBTQ activists are also awarded and recognized for their efforts in increasing equality. And when the community mourned the loss of their brothers and sisters during the Orlando Pulse Nightclub shootings, the pride parades served as place to remember and honor those who lost their lives.
Thus, these marches are not only cries for acceptance and equality, they are also safe spaces to celebrate diversity, culture and community. As Murray Lip says on The Huffington Post, “LGBT pride parades aim to empower LGBT people … Such parades are not an effort to promote separatism or to communicate any degree of superiority or inferiority. They aim simply to validate and celebrate a group of people who have historically been demonized by broader society.”
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So whether you’re in your teens or you’re 92 years old, these annual parades are a testament to the LGBTQ community’s tenacity, fierceness and growing visibility.
