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Pride season was a lost opportunity to make a point.

Pride and Prejudice

eric page

Monday, 24 August 2009

Well here we are, drawing to the end of this year's Pride season and I feel a little let down by you all. I’m Ashamed of Pride. Not by your fabulous costumes, your delightful antics, your raw sensual beauty or your numbers, no not by that - for you have all, as usual, excelled yourselves. I feel let down by your lack of meaning, your lack of direction and your lack of reason. Is being gay such a waste of time that all we have to do is celebrate and shimmy and not use those tens of thousands of people to make a point? Steady on poppet, I know you don’t like to get political but there are times when we NEED TO MAKE A POINT.

Whether you’re reading this in New York, Sidney, Durban, Liverpool, London, Tel Aviv or the myriad other places where this site pops up, it’s all the same. There’s still work to be done. We have a near equality in law, but as dear old Mr. Orwell said: some are more equal than others.

Don’t get me wrong it’s good to party and let our hair down, not that we have any hair of course nor do we do anything other than party but that’s beside the point. We should be making a point, it doesn’t have to be a political point but we should never forget that our Pride marches, all of them, wherever you’re reading this, came directly from a struggle for recognition and respect. For some that struggle is still a daily burden, many lose that struggle. Marriage in the States, legal equality in the UK, basic legal recognition in India, age of consent in Australia, police protection in South Africa or the very real life or death struggle faced by very many LGBT people in vicious and repressive regimes from Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, Burma, China many African countries and even the odd backward Euro country.

We do have something to shout about and it’s about time we started using, again, these large groupings of people to make a point. To say we still aren’t happy, even though we’ve come so far, so quickly. To remind us and society of our duty (which go hand in hand with our hard won rights) to the less fortunate in ours and other societies... LGBT younger people still bullied endlessly, LGBT homeless folk invisible to most of us, the endless remorseless rise of HIV infection, Trans folk raped and murdered, the plight of older LGBT people... I could go on. You know I could go on.

It’s not hard to raise your voice. Pick a cause, turn the pain into anger and motivate yourself and your friends.

"What can I do?" I hear you whine. It’s easy. Write a bloody letter, ask your elected representatives awkward questions, spend your money wisely, write a fucking placard for god's sake. It’s not hard to raise your voice. Pick a cause, turn the pain into anger and motivate yourself and your friends.

Those blessed Stonewall trannies, Gandhi, Edith Cavell and St Harvey of the Spilled Milk all taught us that one man or women can and will make a difference. Words and action count. Lets feel proud again. Let’s raise our voices in concern and make the world a better place for all LGBT people. Because if we don’t then we’ll get exactly what we deserve.