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Imagine Pride


I have always imagined Pride as a party. A month-long party with Anne Marie's playlists and Maddie DJing. But that's just the surface. Pride for me takes many different manifestations, but I have to confess that I've always seen the world through queer eyes. After all, being queer has been the quite distinct quality that has made me stand out in a crowd. I'm queer, I'm here and people needed to get used to it.

First of all, I think that Pride has to do with proving the haters wrong. Pride means being proud of who I am. I did not have fundie parents, mind you. Just run of the mill Catholics, but still. Being gay was a no-no. What about the Joneses? What would THEY think? The good thing is that I have showed them that no, I was not gonna die, alone and diseased, just because I was  never afraid to say I really, really liked dick and pink t-shirts. I have outlived and professionally outpaced most of the naysayers and haters. And I look seven hundred times better than all of them. Being straight has not played out too well for most of them, now burdened by dead-end jobs, high blood pressure, four kids and two mortgages. My being living my best life and high-kicking all the way to the bank is enough to drive many of them mad. And I like that. Yes, I'm petty.




Also, Pride was a protest. Protest against injustice, against oppression and against conformism. The first Pride was a riot, darling. Didn't you know that? And I like the idea of Pride being a riot. I'm a non-conformist. Pride is a revolution against the gays who want to assimilate and against what people think the status quo is. Pride is for the Trans girls, the fat and the Fem boys, the kinksters, the Black and Brown folks and all the colors that the Lily White gays do not want tarnishing their 'image'. Pride is for the butch lesbians on Harleys. For the Drag Queens in nun costumes. Pride is a riot for the disenfranchised. It's always been that way. After all, that brick didn't throw itself.



Pride has to do with identity. I'm proud of having gotten over the heteronormative bullshit that was instilled in me from childhood. Yeah, I'm more than 'gay', obviously, but being gay was a 'problem' during my formative years. And it still is. After all, I was raised by straight people but my identity was not their identity. I was (and am) different to them. Why do you think that people still feel the need to 'come out of the closet? (Hey Carl!) My identifying as a gay man without any shame and expressing my desire for other men is still, in 2021 seen as an affront to the establishment. There's still straight and gay people who want me to 'tame it down'. To not be out and loud and proudly gay. They want only what's palatable to the masses. They don't want me 'rocking the boat'. Well, guess that? Fuck them and the high horse they rode on. SEXUAL is the last part of the word 'homosexual'. I like having sex with men. And if I want to flaunt that during Pride, well, I will put on a harness and short shorts and dance if I want to. 




Pride is diversity. Yeah. not all gay men are masc 4 masc (or want to be one or can be one). There are many shades of 'gay'. The LGBTQ+ slogan keeps getting longer and longer and it's because we didn't have a name for those identities before but now we do have them. Pride is not only for gay men. Pride must be all-inclusive. Lesbians, Trans folk and Bisexual people are also part of Pride. As are the Asexual, the Gender-non-conforming, the Intersex. Pride does not belong to white cisgender men who can 'pass' for straight.  Pride belongs to a very diverse community that needs to see itself represented. Thought I'd make that clear. Just in case.



Pride is Equality.
Because everybody has the right to be happy. If the straights are happy, why can't we? After all, we are here BECAUSE of the straights...



Happy Pride!

XOXO


P.S. Happy Birthday to Jimmy Sommerville who turns sixty today!




Comments

  1. The first video is telling. The community is diverse and proud and can be loud. The community is (needs to be?) inclusive and diverse. For those who can express their true selves it can be freeing. For those who can’t come out, find the support you need. You are loved and respected, you don’t have to go through this alone.

    Happy Pride, let your freak fly!

    XOXO 👨‍❤️‍💋‍👨

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, Bae.
      Only thing is that sometimes the community itself needs to hear that. Diversity is our strength.
      Yay for freak flying!

      XOXO

      Delete
  2. Excellent words and the true meaning of Pride. Unlike years past because the the pandemic....Ive immersed myself in opening discussion to talk with all types this season to learn and expanded my knowledge of all part of the LGBT. What I have learned....the community is not one...sadly. We need to stay strong and embrace all...if this is going to work. And not just at Pride. The community is tending to stay with in it own clicks. I swear we think alike. You sure your not in my apartment hiding?????

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Aww thnx, Maddie!
      I think the pandemic has shown people many things and it has created a more introspective mood. It's funny how we proclaim to be a community and seldom take time to get to know all the people who make it what it is. All those letters have meaning!
      And we do think alike! LOL
      Birds of a feather...

      XOXO

      Delete
  3. For me Pride simply means being out and being myself, and not allowing anyone to tell me how to live, who to love. Pride is everything from parades and protests and boycotts and parties and activism, to going out to dinner with my husband and not being worried what anyone thinks; going to the grocery store and being an out couple.
    It's the power and pride of being ourselves.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's right.
      Pride is everything: it's literally our daily lives.

      XOXO

      Delete
  4. Non-conformist. Take a look at the Black community and those who tried to say, "If you want to move up, you need to be more white." WHAT?? No. You need to be yourself but be respectful of others. It really is that simple. Maybe that's why I have always thought Pride belongs to everyone who has ever been marginalized because of who/what they are. Add "old" and add "disabled" to the LGBT. It's no reason for me to have to hide. XOXO

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I agree . Happy Grey Pride!

      Delete
    2. And that's something I really don't get.
      Why not show respect for others? We tend to forget that the marginalized are the ones in need of uplifting.
      I did not mention here the Gray and people with a disability need to be included too! See? Learning something new.

      XOXO

      Delete
    3. 😘😘😘
      XOXO

      Delete
  5. Great post! Yes, radical inclusivity is what Pride should be all about! Love the drag video and especially Sasha Velour's outfit!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Racial inclusivity FTW!
      And Sasha is such an artist. She literally WAS the rainbow.

      XOXO

      Delete
  6. Very well said. But I suspect you are not of the same generation of Stonewall, or sexually active at the time in 1969. Those times and how you thought about everything was so different.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No, the sixties was not my decade.
      That's why I'm so obsessed with it, I guess. I've always thought we stand on the shoulders of many unsung heroes (and sheroes). Times have changed, but some things stay the same, I think.

      XOXO

      Delete
  7. Loved this. Well said! Yass to all of it!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Happy Pride to you, Sixpence. Nicely said and thank you for sharing your wonderful words and insight. I am glad you are doing well and living your best life. It makes me happy because I wish more people would focus on that instead of being dicks and trying to make others miserable. I have also failed you by not watching "In The Heights." More details at my blog. Take care.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Happy Pride, Mr. Shife!
      Glad to have allies like you. I also wish people would focus on living their best lives. It would be a much better world!.
      And I'll drop by to see what you have to say about In The Heights!

      XOXO

      Delete
  9. All said very well, my dear friend. Thank you. For all of it. I treasure you. Kizzes.

    ReplyDelete
  10. love these queers!

    ReplyDelete

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