Do We Still Need Pride Parades?

As the 40th anniversary of the legendary uprising at Greenwich Village's now-historic Stonewall Inn approaches, we can look back at the brave men and women who raised up their hands and fists and said, "No more!" People were tired of being harassed, tired of being corralled and led away in shame and dishonor, tired of being treated like second-class citizens.

When the Stonewall was raided shortly after midnight on June 28, 1969, a group of gay men, lesbians, drag queens, street youth, hustlers and more fought back against the police. They used coins, bricks, garbage, bottles and their voices to tell the "authorities" to step the fuck back.

Two years later, the first gay pride parades took place in Los Angeles and New York and have spread to cities large and small the world over. But after 40 years, do we still need to gather in the streets in our capitals and small towns to tell the world, "We're here. We're queer..."? Ah, you know the rest.

It's an interesting concept, the pride parade. Whether it's to show Puerto Rican pride, Irish pride, American pride ... gay pride, people want to gather in the streets each year to say, "Hell yeah, this is who I am and I love it!" But do annual Pride parades still have the same objectives and reach the same goals today as they did 20 —or even 10—years ago? The gay community has made major strides in the last decade. We have representatives in politics, entertainment, sports, science and adademics, and we are allowed to get married or have a civil union in dozens of countries and a number of U.S. states. Yet we still have a ways to go before we truly have equality.

When you think about Pride in your town or city, what first comes to mind? Is it the riots that started our gay liberation? Is it the political factions who helped us get where we are? Perhaps it's the companies that supported our rights to work alongside straight people and get the same benefits. Or do you just think about how fucked up you're going to get while watching hot, buff, gyrating go-go boys toss beads your way?

However you view your Pride, you can't deny we got to this place today by the support and help of a lot of people. Whether you were in the trenches fighting or benefitted from those actions, each summer we come together to remember how we got here. But why can't we do this everyday? There is plenty of dissention within our community to make us all take pause and ask what it is we're proud of. If each of us takes a step back and thinks about it, we can remember something in each of our lives that makes us proud to be gay. But is it because of some politician or some company or a big fat party? Yes.

There are many ways to show pride in who you are. If you feel like you have to get wasted to do it, so be it. Otherwise, stay home. Just make sure you do something on one of the other 364 days of the year.