This month, Ella Peel, our Inclusion and Diversity Lead, looks at Pride.
June is Pride month; an official 30 days of celebrating the LGBTQ+ community.
You may have seen for yourself, companies changing their logos with rainbows and creating colourful window displays to show their support for Pride month.
One the surface it is a nice gesture but is that all it is… a gesture?
Is their allyship a fashionable statement? A way to seem en-vogue? Or worse: a way to profit from the LGBTQ+ community?
Pride’s political roots
You may be forgiven for seeing Pride as a party because, oh boy, do the LGBTQ+ community know how to organise a party! But we must remember that behind the glitz and glamour of drag artists, ballroom fans and bedazzled costumes is a riot at a ‘gay’ bar over 50 years ago.
On 28th June 1969 NYC police raided the Stonewall Inn with the intent to arrest LGBTQ+ customers for partaking in ‘gay behaviour in public’ which is code for holding hands, kissing or dancing with someone of the same-sex. During the raid 13 people were arrested, this included bar staff and people who were violating the state’s gender-appropriate clothing statute.
The raid was violent from the outset and clearly motivated by homophobia which sparked a riot that lasted 6 days.
While there were activist groups operating long before this date and many peaceful protests, it was the Stonewall Riot (also known as the Stonewall Rebellion or Stonewall Uprising) that brought Queer visibility to the global stage, forcing people around the world to see the violence and discrimination that LGBTQ+ people faced at the hands of the police and within society on a daily basis.
The events that took place at Stonewall lead to real change for the LGBTQ+ community which is why it is seen as the birth of modern LGBTQ+ rights.
The first Pride march took place on the anniversary of the Stonewall Riot and was the catalyst for world-wide celebrations that grew each year.
The evolution of Pride
In 1999 Pride hit the mainstream when President Bill Clinton declared June ‘Gay and Lesbian Pride Month’. When President Barack Obama was in office from 2009 to 2017 he declared June as ‘LGBT Pride Month’ each year.
Most cities in the UK celebrate Pride in June but more recently there has been a flowering of regional Prides taking place outside of these 30 days.
Why? Well, on a practical level there are only 4 weekends in June so with cities having first dibs on the limited Fridays and Saturdays available, would you want to clash with big events if you were a grassroots Pride? Probably Not!
And what’s not to love? This way LGBTQ+ performers have more availability and are able to have a career that spans more than a single month and it means that there are more Prides that you can attend!
But most importantly LGBTQ+ folk exist all year around, not just in June and so they should be valued and celebrated as such.
Pride is a season
Pride has evolved from a one day celebration to a whole month but what that means is that outside of June the very important issues and rights of LGBTQ+ people are forgotten.
Instead, if we think of Pride as a season, which it is naturally becoming, we are more likely to be active allies throughout the year rather than all ‘love is love’ for 30 days and then who cares for the rest of the year.
If corporations, businesses and individuals state that they are allies but are only vocal in June then are they really allies? The answer, I’m afraid, is no.
What are we doing for the rest of the year? How are we amplifying LGBTQ+ voices, putting a spotlight on LGBTQ+ issues and being active allies?
The joy of Pride originating from a history of hurt shows that we have come a long way but the reality is that we are still not there yet. It is still illegal to be LGBTQ+ in 64 countries today. 64! So, we still have a long way to go.
As allies, with privilege on our side we have the power to do more.
For suggestions on how to do this, Dinah has written a fantastic step-by-step guide to being an active ally.
The images in this post are from our local PRIDE.