Pride, the month, the holiday...what does it mean to you?

ruffryder · 06-26-2012, 02:41 PM

I guess for me, Pride is a time to get out and hang with like minded individuals, LGBT people and network. When I say "Happy Pride" it is for visibility and somewhat political. I want people to be aware that I or others are celebrating something we believe in and "are" which is LGTB.

HAPPY PRIDE !!

Quintease · 07-08-2012, 05:48 PM

We almost lost our Pride this year. Due to a colossal mistake by the Pride organisers we found out one week before the day that Pride could possibly be cancelled.

Pride denied this.

The next day we found out they were in serious financial difficulty and as a result, Pride was going to be massively scaled down. No floats and no parties in the local gay area.

It gets worse.

Our mayor then tried to stop one of our iconic members of the community from speaking at pride, an opposing politician had to step in to overcome the ban, then the same mayor blocked two high profile sponsors from solving the finance problem. Basically our mayor and his party were trying to kill pride.

Despite that we marched! There were a mile and a half of us marching right through town. Bars in the local gay area defied a council ban and played music and allowed their patrons to party outside. The 'official' pride area was packed. My favourite gay charity gave away 3,000 stickers and almost 2,000 flyers in just over an hour. It was an amazing day.

Still on a high the next day I looked on Facebook. Of course THERE were the people complaining that instead of pride they'd felt shame. Instead of having a good day they'd wished it had all been cancelled. And instead of wishing to support pride and everything it stood for, they were angry that the organisers, charities and volunteers had fought so hard to keep it going ahead.

People really piss me off.

EnderD_503 · 07-10-2012, 02:54 PM

No I don't. Every year I look forward to Pride, and then every year I'm reminded of way there is so much fucked up about Pride. This year I seem more cynical than usual, though.

Its become a recent tradition here that the week before Pride begins, political queers organise a march that speaks out against the corporate, often exclusive and anti-political nature of Pride. This year was the pre-Pride Night March which was great and definitely successful. Given the problems Pride has had with the city since Ford was elected, I think a focus on political, unsanctioned marches that are pointedly inclusive are really important.

Really made important by the nature of the sanctioned Trans March this year, which was really disappointing and completely disrespectful. The unsanctioned march was just really hard to find at its starting point since it began after the sanctioned one instead of at the same time.

And the general attendance seems every year more frequented by straight couples monopolizing the space and straight cis guys desperately attempting to pick up queer women. Really sickening. I think "my Pride" began and ended with the Night March, I don't want much to do with the sanctioned, hetero/cis-"appropriate" party party Pride.

The one positive thing about this year's Pride, though, is organisers didn't heed city hall's attempts to ban QUAIA from participating in Pride again. Probably the only group that is both present in the unsanctioned activities and also managing to reinsert politics back into Pride.

aishah · 07-10-2012, 03:14 PM

i've never been to pride and i don't really have strong associations with it.

in my queer muslim circles we call it eid-ul-queer...i.e., like muslim gay christmas

and we wish each other happy eid-ul-queer.

but i've never lived anywhere with a big pride - most people go out of town for pride where i've lived, and i couldn't go. i guess i associate participating in pride with my friends who live in locations with huge pride events (i love seeing the pictures on facebook), and with having financial ability/mobility to be able to travel to pride, which is something a lot of people i know don't have. i "come home" to my queer family at a couple of other events throughout the year...for me those events hold the symbolism that pride seems to hold for many people.

i help organize a local queer youth group...since there isn't a pride parade in lawrence, we organized a small pride parade here this year that was entirely put on by queer and trans* middle and high school youth. unfortunately i got sick and couldn't go. i'm looking forward to seeing it grow next year, though

View Poll Results: Do you wish people a Happy Pride and if you do is it like:
wishing them a Happy New Year?	53	61.63%
greeting Norm at Cheers?	15	17.44%
a way to increase your visibility?	12	13.95%
a way to increase their visibility?	9	10.47%
a political statement?	14	16.28%
a threat? (like you better have a happy pride or I'll send drag queens to your house)	13	15.12%
Multiple Choice Poll. Voters: 86. You may not vote on this poll

07-08-2012, 05:48 PM	#2
Quintease Member How Do You Identify?: Rainbow femme Preferred Pronoun?: princess Relationship Status: Married Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: United Kingdom Posts: 514 My Photo Gallery Thanks: 508 Thanked 1,817 Times in 417 Posts Rep Power: 10560327	Pride against those who would take it away. We almost lost our Pride this year. Due to a colossal mistake by the Pride organisers we found out one week before the day that Pride could possibly be cancelled. Pride denied this. The next day we found out they were in serious financial difficulty and as a result, Pride was going to be massively scaled down. No floats and no parties in the local gay area. It gets worse. Our mayor then tried to stop one of our iconic members of the community from speaking at pride, an opposing politician had to step in to overcome the ban, then the same mayor blocked two high profile sponsors from solving the finance problem. Basically our mayor and his party were trying to kill pride. Despite that we marched! There were a mile and a half of us marching right through town. Bars in the local gay area defied a council ban and played music and allowed their patrons to party outside. The 'official' pride area was packed. My favourite gay charity gave away 3,000 stickers and almost 2,000 flyers in just over an hour. It was an amazing day. Still on a high the next day I looked on Facebook. Of course THERE were the people complaining that instead of pride they'd felt shame. Instead of having a good day they'd wished it had all been cancelled. And instead of wishing to support pride and everything it stood for, they were angry that the organisers, charities and volunteers had fought so hard to keep it going ahead. People really piss me off. __________________ It is not worth an intelligent person's time to be in the majority. By definition, there are already enough people to do that.

06-26-2012, 02:41 PM	#1
ruffryder Senior Member How Do You Identify?: FTM Preferred Pronoun?: guy ones Relationship Status: ... Join Date: May 2011 Location: chillin' in FL Posts: 3,690 My Photo Gallery Thanks: 21,951 Thanked 9,679 Times in 2,875 Posts Rep Power: 21474854	I guess for me, Pride is a time to get out and hang with like minded individuals, LGBT people and network. When I say "Happy Pride" it is for visibility and somewhat political. I want people to be aware that I or others are celebrating something we believe in and "are" which is LGTB. HAPPY PRIDE !!

07-10-2012, 02:54 PM	#3
EnderD_503 Member How Do You Identify?: Queer, trans guy, butch Preferred Pronoun?: Male pronouns Relationship Status: Relationship Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Canada Posts: 1,329 My Photo Gallery Thanks: 4,090 Thanked 3,878 Times in 1,022 Posts Rep Power: 21474853	No I don't. Every year I look forward to Pride, and then every year I'm reminded of way there is so much fucked up about Pride. This year I seem more cynical than usual, though. Its become a recent tradition here that the week before Pride begins, political queers organise a march that speaks out against the corporate, often exclusive and anti-political nature of Pride. This year was the pre-Pride Night March which was great and definitely successful. Given the problems Pride has had with the city since Ford was elected, I think a focus on political, unsanctioned marches that are pointedly inclusive are really important. Really made important by the nature of the sanctioned Trans March this year, which was really disappointing and completely disrespectful. The unsanctioned march was just really hard to find at its starting point since it began after the sanctioned one instead of at the same time. And the general attendance seems every year more frequented by straight couples monopolizing the space and straight cis guys desperately attempting to pick up queer women. Really sickening. I think "my Pride" began and ended with the Night March, I don't want much to do with the sanctioned, hetero/cis-"appropriate" party party Pride. The one positive thing about this year's Pride, though, is organisers didn't heed city hall's attempts to ban QUAIA from participating in Pride again. Probably the only group that is both present in the unsanctioned activities and also managing to reinsert politics back into Pride.

07-10-2012, 03:14 PM	#4
aishah Member How Do You Identify?: queer stone femme shark baby girl Preferred Pronoun?: she, her, little one Relationship Status: dating myself. Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: dallas, tx Posts: 1,495 My Photo Gallery Thanks: 13,823 Thanked 6,440 Times in 1,288 Posts Rep Power: 21474851	i've never been to pride and i don't really have strong associations with it. in my queer muslim circles we call it eid-ul-queer...i.e., like muslim gay christmas and we wish each other happy eid-ul-queer. but i've never lived anywhere with a big pride - most people go out of town for pride where i've lived, and i couldn't go. i guess i associate participating in pride with my friends who live in locations with huge pride events (i love seeing the pictures on facebook), and with having financial ability/mobility to be able to travel to pride, which is something a lot of people i know don't have. i "come home" to my queer family at a couple of other events throughout the year...for me those events hold the symbolism that pride seems to hold for many people. i help organize a local queer youth group...since there isn't a pride parade in lawrence, we organized a small pride parade here this year that was entirely put on by queer and trans* middle and high school youth. unfortunately i got sick and couldn't go. i'm looking forward to seeing it grow next year, though