I shouldn't be so hard on Capital Pride.Sidebar: Although they somewhat set themselves up for the ridicule. My main reason for being disdainful is that Pride is a lack of purpose pretending to have a purpose. From the Cap Pride's Web Site:
But if you review the schedule of weeklong events, you find one forum, one interfaith service, and then happy hour, a bachelor auction, a bachelorette auction, a Miss Capitol Pride Pageant, a men's party, a woman's party, a parade and a street festival. Dancing shirtless, bidding on on beefcake and competing drag queens -- this is "what it means to be proud in our nation's capital?" Drop the pretense. It's a party with no purpose other than partying. It's a Mardi Gras.June 6th will kick-off the 33rd annual Capital Pride celebration! This years theme of "History. Vision. Legacy." will allow attendees from near and far to be part of a celebration of what it means to be Proud in our Nation's capital.
The weeklong celebration of educational, civic and social events, will culminate with the landmark parade on Saturday, June 14th and the street festival Sunday, June 15th. (emphasis added).
End Sidebar.
Problem is, there is a vacuum in our community, one that Pride could help begin to fill by being a rallying point. What's missing in Pride is a national gay civil rights movement.
In California a volcano just erupted. Part of the fallout of that event is going to be a backlash at the ballot box this November. Winning there has ramifications for the entire community. It's the beginning of the collapse of legal and political discrimination against gays. If we win.
You couldn't tell that D-Day will be happening this November based on Capital Pride (and the gays in California acted like they've already one, according to this observer).
But, as I said, I'm expecting too much of Pride organizers. Their task is to throw a party, not galvanize a community into a national movement. Problem is, no one is doing this. One might think HRC would be such a vehicle, but HRC is fundamentally a fundraising organization not a civil rights grassroots organization. And it's too in bed with the Democratic Party to take the risks needed for a civil rights movement. Partisans don't like to rock the boat in favor of their incumbents and civil rights movements make waves.
Pride has its pleasures (as this fellow noted). It's just too bad that nearly 40 years after Stonewall our community hasn't been able to form a cohesive national civil rights movement.
Happy Pride.
3 comments:
I doubt there's going to be any backlash at the ballot box, Scott. There's no proof there was in 2004, other than an awful lot of people breezily claiming there was. All the actual statisticians I've read who've looked at real data, on the other hand, say there's no discernible connection between anti-gay measures on the ballot and either turnout or Bush's vote totals.
I'm sure the tighty-righties would like for there to be a backlash. The problem with that being, it's getting harder and harder to find any tighty-righties, much less get them motivated to go out and vote. They've been the neocons' cum towel for the last 40 years, and all they've got to show for it is a crusty towel they're embarrassed to let anyone else see. They're absolutely underwhelmed by McSame--who seems equally underwhelmed by the tighty-righties.
Neither are they getting any younger. They've more or less already lost the under-30 set. It could be that all we have to do is wait for the most vicious and vituperative of the bigots to shuffle off this mortal coil, and we could see some significant progress on a lot of important issues.
Can't really argue with you about the way "pride" gets treated as an excuse for a big party, though. Personally, I've never seen the attraction.
I agree that Pride is more of a Mardi Gras. I went to the street festival last year, and it was mostly about beer and tiny leather outfits. I didn't feel entirely welcome.
But Pride is not about me - and I recognize that. I can remember what my sister went through when she came out (she was 16, I was 14), but it's not something I've experienced firsthand. So maybe there's merit to a party where the unwelcome feel welcome - and I should respect that, instead of hoping for more of a "message."
Shannon-- There is indeed "merit to a party where the unwelcome feel welcome." I remember my first forays to Pride, which were more than 20 years ago.
That's an important part of Pride, but is that all? Pride exists for the community, so if it only serves the needs of those just coming out, well, that's pretty narrow. Moreover, Pride -- at least in DC -- costs a lot of money and uses resources from our organizations (i.e., our dues money) to exist. In fact, our community organizations have to PAY to participate. I don't need to go to Pride to be affirmed, though it can be affirming. However I do think our community has needs that Pride could help address.
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