This dueling atmosphere makes the fact that the epidemic has greatly frustrated pride – exactly five decades after activists gathered Liberation Day in Christopher Street Liberation in March, which was held to commemorate the 1969 Stonewall riots – feel more deep.
For 22-year-old Em Panetta (who is non-duo and takes the pronoun “them”), this June was going to be a moment of dependency: their first pride.
“Last year, starting last summer, was pretty much a big event for me, so this summer was supposed to be a festive time for me – a time to travel to New York City (from the Philadelphia area) and Panetta told CNN: “Be out with my community, instead of sitting on the sidelines as I have been doing for several years.”
Panetta continued: “Since the cancellation of personal celebrations of pride has been canceled, there has been a somewhat sad process. It is hard to know that you have almost had this special experience.”
Sorrow. It is the idea that Ethan Johnston, 38, is the founder and leader of community building
Pride Link, A nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the quality of life for gay people in the South Carolina region, is also used to describe this year’s absence of Pride.
“Pride offers me an opportunity to be my true self and to be free from worrying about whether I’m going to look at me in a certain way or should I respond to comments or harassment,” said Johnston. “The first pride I went to was in Spartanburg, after it came out as a mutant. So for me, it’s an event rooted in authenticity.”
Johnston added: “The lack of this summer makes me feel as though much of my year is missing – the excitement of being prepared and knowing what I’m going to wear and meeting people. There is sadness in losing over all of it.”
A lost political opportunity
Sometimes, the season can be more overtly political. It is not difficult to know why: Although President Donald Trump tried early in his term to classify himself as a gay guardian – “(I am determined to protect the rights of all Americans, including the LGBTQ community,”
He said in a January 2017 statement – His administration was barely friendly with this group.
a
ProPublica Report 2019 On the Trump administration’s record on LGBT issues, “I found dozens of changes that represent a profound remodeling of the ways the federal government treats more than 11 million gay, gay, bisexual and heterosexual Americans.” These changes include measures to reverse protection, drop, remove, and withdraw LGBTQ in areas ranging from employment and health care to criminal justice and public life.
“Pride is an essential part of the political communication we do,” Kate Malone, 45, advocate and educator, at
The Civil Liberties Union of Indiana, He said. “It is the place where we communicate with other organizations. It is the place where we establish contact with LGBTQ individuals who only want to know more about their rights.”
In places like
Mike Pence Country, With honey preserved so that quirky experiences often appear different from those in more progressive pockets, Pride’s importance may increase significantly. Especially for those in small towns, a month can refresh, in a safe way, the slogan of many civil rights movements:
Vision.
“We track nearly 20 rural celebrations in Pride, Indiana. They move from a small barn in a shelter in a park to
Spencer Pride Festival(Because of Covid-19, the festival has been postponed), Malone said, which was displayed in national news and attracted thousands of attendees from across the region. They may not have spaces in which they can safely celebrate. ”
And Malone continued: “When I think about the outcome of Pride’s cancellation, these are the people I think about – people who don’t live near a major city, and who may not be able to reach
Gay barsWho may have higher levels of isolation. “
Away from
Welcome environmentsSimple presence of pride can have political parity. Major Todd Leslie, 71, was reflected in the 1980s, when he traveled with gay, bisexual, and transgender people on the march to rallies in Florida, where he lives and beyond.
“I know it sounds ridiculous today, but these kids, as I call them, had to gather a great deal of courage to do that,” Leslie said. “One year, I took a group to a rally in Jacksonville, which is very conservative. We were in a park, and a lot of people were protesting against us being there. The kids were tense and uncomfortable – and they stayed like this until
Dams on bikes Appeared. “(Tell this last part with a warm laugh.)
As Leslie sees, anything that can be withdrawn from you is political: “The essence of pride is the idea of not taking the hard-won Muslim things.”
Pride, imagine
External activities have been canceled. But this does not mean that the spirit of pride was completely frustrated. As it became common during the epidemic,
Some celebrations moved online – Incomplete position, but it talks about LGBTQ flexibility.
For example, in May, New York City Pride announced that he would be there
Three-day default withdrawal offer From June 19 to June 21, it houses over 100 artists, including graduates of “RuPaul’s Drag Race.” In addition, the actor “Sheet Creek” and co-creator Dan Levy will be one of four lead mentors, singer Janel Munay and actor “Boss” Billy Porter among the artists,
Private broadcast June 28.
It should be noted that the epidemic forced another conversation on how to improve pride control.
Fifty years later, the event has evolved into something impossible to tangle from the most pernicious aspect of consumption and capitalism, the writer and professor at Northwestern University.
Stephen Thrasher tweeted in AprilAfter announcing personal celebrations of pride.
“We need something new to address the labor, environmental, anti-racism and economic challenges of LGBT people,” Thrasher said.
Over the decades, criticism of pride – how it tends to raise only a narrow range of LGBTQ experiences, and how stuffed with police – has inspired alternative celebrations.
After reporting for years,
DC Dyke MarchIt was first held in 1993 to embrace activity among women who stand out and to emphasize the distinctive power of women
Dam As a political indicator, he returned last June. He is not affiliated with Pride. The goal is to “center converts, lesbians, lesbians and other dam identities” ignored by the mainstream LGBTQ movement, as illustrated by this year’s Facebook page, Dykes Go Digital.
“When I think of pride, I think of many pride,” Preston Mitchum, 34, director of policy for the Washington-based nonprofit
Urge: Unite for Procreation and Gender EqualityHe told CNN. “We have Black Pride. We have Trans Pride. We have Youth Pride. It breaks my heart not to see joy, fashion and friends. But since we can’t get this summer, I hope people will understand that companies don’t make pride of greatness. Societies do.”
Indeed, this appears to be the collective spirit
Some organizers are taking advantage of as they restore the roots of the Pride Publishers To support the current “black life” protests against police brutality.
“No good thing will come from a preventable and deadly epidemic. At the same time, people have the opportunity to reassess exactly what they need from their societies – and for themselves. And they have a chance to dream differently,” added Mitchum.
One way to think of an epidemic is in terms of theft. In just months, many people were robbed: jobs, life,
Small but big pleasures too. In all of this it is dark intimacy, especially for some. To be a stranger in America, you must be aware of a similar kind of loss, due to years of state intolerance and intolerance.
But to be strange, you must be aware of what can happen after this loss: kinship and contact that can go beyond almost anything.
