Today my town celebrated Pride with a parade and a celebration at one of the city’s most beautiful parks. Since this is my first year celebrating Pride after coming out, I have been looking forward to it for quite some time. As always, my son and I were joined by friends at Kingston’s parade. A few people who had heard my weekend plans were surprised I was so excited about this particular Pride celebrations. Some wondered why this year would be any different than last. Others accused me of trying to grab attention by celebration something that, according to them, really didn’t matter. After all, aren’t I typically in heteronormative relationships? Why should I broadcast my sexuality? Why should it mean so much for me to be out? I don’t see straight people making a big deal out of their sexuality, why should I be so excited about mine? These are all questions I’ve been posed and failed to answer in the heat of the moment. Why does it matter so much to me?
There are so many reasons that Pride matters to me, and to the community as a whole. It would be impossible to list them all. Here’s a pretty good (albeit personal) place to start:
Because when I was growing up, anyone who wasn’t straight was referred to as “those people” – in stark opposition to “us”, making me feel alienated from my community early on.
Because when I was arguing for gay marriage rights as a teenager, I frequently ran into opposition from people in my family, peer group, and school.
Because they would argue that a “civil arrangement” should be “just as good” as marriage, despite all of them being legally married, having decided non-legally binding civil arrangements to be ill-suited to or lacking in adequate commitment for their (straight) lifestyles. Read more.
via The Sirens Rise