The pride that dare not speak its name
Posted on June 8th, 2008
An ad for Macy’s today in the Boston Globe touted as part of Pride Week an appearance by a lesbian couple who had competed on “Top Chef.” Wow, I thought, it’s great that Macy’s is supporting Gay Pride Week, but it’s too bad they were too gutless to mention the word “gay.”
But, upon checking the url the ad gave, I found that the sponsoring organization, Boston Pride, also just refers to it as “Pride Week.” You have to check the About page to find out that it’s about gay pride.
Sort of ironic to be proud of something you seem ashamed to talk about.
Tagged with: culture
well it’s not just gay pride, it’s the full LGBT gamut (plus all the other categories that don’t fall under that rubric).
I’m all for equality, so I can never quite understand why if everybody wants to be treated as equal, some groups need to have a special week.
After all, people would it consider it ludicrous to have a straight pride week.
So why in the rush to equally do some wish to be treated differently? Isn’t the real point to not treat anyone differently?
That should have been “in the rush to equality”, not “equally”.
I expect all men were considered equal once, and then because half of them put their lives on the line to provide future generations, the other half thought they were deserving of special consideration and even suggested they deserved letters in front of their name, i.e. ‘wo’.
It’ll happen again. In a hundred years’ time people will get bored of being equal.
Anyway, there is one more gross inequality. We are yet to have a ‘Culturally Proud’ week. This is a week in which a country’s publishers are no longer privileged with the suspension of its citizens’ cultural liberty. A week in which the likes of Jhannet Sejas are no longer persecuted.
http://www.freeculturenyu.org/.....al-cinemas
One day authors will be equal to members of their audience.
You can start today in renouncing your privilege:
“I will not accept the enslavement of my fellow man, nor any imposition upon his liberty, as reward for the publication of my art.”
As someone who has participated in a number of Pride events over the years–with my kids, spouse, and friends– I am confident that the lack of “Gay” in this context is intended (whatever the effect may be) to reflect the opposite of hesitancy about naming “gay” out loud. As dbt notes above, “gay” is simply too narrowly construed a word to do the subject justice. It might be more explicit to say “non-heterosexually-normative” or “those not defined by heterosexually exclusive ideology,) but there are some logistical problems with those, especially on posters and tshirts. Many people participate in Pride events–far more than those who identify themselves as “gay.” The “pride” angle is less about equality (although there are important issues to consider there) and more about countering the painful and destructive stigma, hate, violence, and rejection that still abound in families and many social contexts. Check out a Pride parade or other Pride week event and see for yourself. You might be surprised, and you might even have fun.
Margaret, good distinction about what the “pride angle” is about. But — taking gbt’s point — the removal of any qualifier from the week’s name in order to be more inclusive (or less imprecise) has the effect of lessening the event’s impact, at least in marketing terms.
Further, BostonPride.org’s home page has plenty of room to spell out exactly what’s being celebrated, but it chooses not to. The word “gay” doesn’t appear there. Neither does “LGBT.” The closest it comes is in the last line of the “about” box at the bottom of the page: “… our community celebrates in the first state to allow same-sex couples the legal right to marry!” Except for that one line, the page could only reasonably be taken as advertising an environmental awareness week.
I am a supporter of LGBT rights and have been for a long time. Massachusetts’ support of equal marriage rights deeply touches me. That’s why I’m distressed by what appears to be BostonPride’s willingness to be proud but not loud.
I want to echo what dbt said — it isn’t just gay any more, it is gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, etc… and, I think, there is a move towards general inclusiveness. I think it is awesome — and it is always better to create language that draws people in rather than pushes people out. A hug instead of a slap.
Somehow related. Did you know about the Gayglers?
http://www.google.com/jobs/gay.....glers/
Given the broad global community comprising people with Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Concerns, we can understand “Boston Pride” as a community celebration that doesn’t need to market externally at all, and that has enough recognition within that LGBTQ community to be appropriately branded. We’ve been beating this drum loudly and proudly for like 35 years now across the US. It’s refreshing simply to change style once in a while. In short, I guess I’m echoing dbt too, and resisting the urge to grab larry borsato by his virtual lapels and shake him.