A few weeks ago I heard someone refer to Pride events as Gay Christmas. There’s a huge buildup, lots of preparation and then, once the celebration is over, a feeling of disappointment that the festivities have come and gone.
I laughed and essentially agreed with the sentiment not to say that Christmas isn’t for everyone, regardless of sexuality.
It wasn’t until a week or so later when I thought about that conversation again. I was in stand-still traffic on the Howard Frankland Bridge crossing Tampa Bay when I noticed a sticker on the vehicle in front of me. It was a white outline of characters portraying a manger scene with the message, Remember the Reason for the Season. It was obviously a sticker commemorating Christmas.
It’s a message we hear every winter. The December holiday is supposed to be a celebration of the birth of Christ. Yet, the shopping, parties, gift wrapping, candy and Santa Claus hoopla often overshadows the simple message of Peace on Earth. It’s a concern we hear from church leaders the moment the Thanksgiving Day Parade wraps up its route on that cold November morning.
It’s frustrating to many when the reasons behind a celebration are overlooked, and it’s not a far stretch to feel that same frustration during Pride month.
St. Pete Pride is arguably the biggest LGBT Pride event in the state Come Out With Pride boasts similar numbers, so who’s to say which is the largest. But beginning in late May, St. Pete Pride rolls out its official program, published by Watermark, and events pepper every week of the June calendar. It all leads up to daily Pride events the last week of the month and culminating in the Promenade, Street Festival and after-parties. It’s a whole lot of fun spanning a long, hot month.
As we prepare for the big day, gay men and women flood the gyms so their bodies are ready to be bared in the June heat. Designing costumes, floats and booths take priority for a majority of the businesses represented along Central Avenue. It’s a distracting month that celebrates our diversity, our families and our Pride.
But how often do we, as a community, remember the true reason for this season?
When the Stonewall Riots of New York unfolded on that June night in 1969, I wasn’t even a thought in my parents’ minds. I didn’t learn about the riots until I was halfway through college and could finally think the words, I’m gay, in my own mind. When someone would ask me why we have LGBT Pride, I couldn’t come up with an answer until I educated myself about our history.
Every year I hear comments about the Florida heat and the inconvenience of sweaty, shirtless men and mid-drift baring lesbians celebrating who they are in the June sun. Why don’t they move it to the spring, is often suggested, as is, Couldn’t we have this in the winter?
But if we truly believe in the real meaning of Pride, why reschedule it just because a different time of year may be more bearable?
Most LGBT people see the Stonewall Riots as the birth of the new LGBT equality movement. When that original group of drag queens finally had enough of the constant raids on their favorite gay bar and decided to stand up to authorities, its doubtful they were thinking about the summer heat. They were thinking it was time to change the way our country looks at its LGBT citizens.
While some of those who were involved in the original riots are still with us, a growing number of them have passed on, leaving us to cultivate the movement they started more than four decades ago. And look at what we’ve accomplished! Same-sex marriage is legal in a handful of states and more and more same-sex coupled households are raising children. A glimpse at pop culture shows acceptance unimaginable even 10 years ago, when St. Pete Pride began.
As we celebrate our diversity, our sexuality and our community this year, maybe we should stop for a moment or two between floats, parties and drinks to think about those who came before us. Because really, aren’t they the true reason for our season?
