Gay Pride Day

Around the world, lesbian, gay, bi, trans, and intersex people continue to face widespread stigma, exclusion and discrimination, including in education, employment and health care – as well as within homes and communities. Many LGBT persons face targeted physical attacks and extreme violence—they are beaten, sexually assaulted, tortured and killed. In many countries, discriminatory laws criminalize consensual same-sex relations and trans people, exposing LGBT people to arrest, blackmail, extortion, stigma, and in 5 countries, even the death penalty, for consensual same sex relations. In most countries, trans people have no access to legal recognition of their gender identity, or face abusive requirements to obtain such recognition. Intersex children and adults may be forced or coerced to undergo medically unnecessary interventions, in violation of their human rights.

Global Pride Day is 27 June. LGBT pride (also known as gay pride) is the promotion of the self-affirmation, dignity, equality, and increased visibility of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people as a social group. Pride, as opposed to shame and social stigma, is the predominant outlook that bolsters most LGBT rights movements. The suggestion to call the movement ‘Pride’ came from L. Craig Schoonmaker who in 2015 said: A lot of people were very repressed, they were conflicted internally, and didn’t know how to come out and be proud. That’s how the movement was most useful, because they thought, ‘Maybe I should be proud.

In 1970, on the first anniversary of the riots, several hundred demonstrators marched along Greenwich Village’s Christopher Street, which runs past the Stonewall, in what many consider the first Gay Pride march (though other commemorations were also held that year). Early Gay Pride events (often called Freedom Day or Gay Liberation Day) were often sparsely attended and encountered protests, particularly because of the outlandish costumes that some marchers wore. In 1978 what is perhaps the most-recognized symbol of Gay Pride made its debut at the San Francisco event: the rainbow flag. The symbol for Pride is a rainbow flag and it is used to represent gay pride all over the world.

The flag, with its eight colors (sexuality symbolized by hot pink, life by red, healing by orange, the Sun by yellow, nature by green, art by blue, harmony by indigo, and spirit by violet), was designed by San Francisco artist Gilbert Baker and has been adopted worldwide. The following year a six-color flag, which is in common use today, appeared (with red, orange, yellow, green, blue [harmony replaced art as symbolized by blue in the flag], and purple/violet), partially because of the unavailability of some of the fabric colors.

I absolutely love that corporations celebrate pride with us, making it easier to access pride colored merchandise. It shows inclusiveness and allows everyone to be able to support members of the LGBT community. However, I do not agree to celebrate only during pride month. I feel that it should be supported year around, not just during June. Pride is not a money making cash cow. Pride is a chance for progress and people of all genders, sexuality, races, and identities to showcase their human identity despite the hate and repression that has followed their lifestyle choice for centuries and even millennia. The amount of memes making fun of corporations showcases just how many people realize they really don’t support so much as try to make a profit during pride month.