Gay pride

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Celebrant with rainbow flag at Gay Pride New York in 2008.
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Gay pride, LGBT pride or simply pride is the positive stance against discrimination and violence toward lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people to promote their self-affirmation, increase their visibility as a social group, build community, and celebrate sexual diversity and gender variance. Pride, as opposed to shame and social stigma, is the predominant outlook that bolsters most LGBT rights movements throughout the world. What’s more, pride has lent its name to LGBT-themed organizations, institutes, foundations, book titles, periodicals and even a cable TV station.

Ranging from solemn to carnivalesque, pride events are typically held during LGBT Pride Month or some other time that commemorates a turning point in a country’s LGBT history, for example Moscow Pride in May for the anniversary of Russia's 1993 decriminalization of homosexuality. Some types of pride events include LGBT pride parades and marches, rallies, commemorations, community days, dance parties, and large festivals such as Sydney Mardi Gras, which spans several weeks.

Common symbols of pride are the rainbow or pride flag, the lowercase Greek letter lambda (λ), the pink triangle and the black triangle, these latter two reclaimed from use as badges of shame in Nazi concentration camps.[1]

Contents


History

See also: Timeline of LGBT history, Homosexuality in ancient Greece, and Homosexuality in ancient Rome
Young man and teenager engaging in intercrural sex, fragment of a black-figure Attic cup, 550 BCE–525 BCE, Louvre

Pre-modern times

Advocates of gay pride have used different periods throughout history to point to oppression as well as differing levels of acceptance of homosexuality.[2] The ancient Greeks did not conceive of sexual orientation as a social identifier, as European societies have done at least for the past century. Greek society did not distinguish sexual desire or behavior by the gender of the participants, but by the extent to which such desire or behavior conformed to social norms. These norms were based on gender, age and social status.[3] "Lesbian" derives from the name of the island of Lesbos,[4][5] which was famous for the poetess Sappho, who wrote love poetry to female lovers.[6] Homosexuality in the ancient Roman Empire is considered to have been widespread but was tempered by the complex social systems of the society.[7]

During Medieval times all forms of sexuality began to be repressed by the church as the message of heaven and hell gained popularity.[8] Horrible conditions and disease were widespread. Belief among people that they were suffering from the wrath of God was common, and immorality was blamed. This principle had roots in Roman philosophy.[9] Any and all forms of homosexuality became not only shameful but punishable by death.[10] In 390, the first law banning same-sex love was enacted in Rome, making it punishable by death.[11]

19th century movement in Germany

At the turn of the century in Germany there was an early gay rights movement akin to today's Gay Pride movement. Led by Magnus Hirschfeld, this movement sought to educate the public and to bring about the repeal of Paragraph 175, a provision of the German Criminal Code begun on the 15th May, 1871, which made homosexual acts between males a crime. Hirschfeld eventually circulated a gay rights petition in 1903, meant to secure equal rights for gay people. The first to sign this petition was Albert Einstein.[12]

Notable figures in contemporary history

English writer, model, actor and raconteur Quentin Crisp, performing his "One Man Show" in Birmingham (circa 1982), known for his witticisms and longstanding refusal to remain closeted.

Part of the gay pride movement honors past LGBT figures who prospered despite persecution for their openness and coming out of various perceived closets. There have been notable figures that have fought for or involved themselves in gay rights, or their right to live their lives as they saw fit. Oscar Wilde is amongst the more famous for his writings as well for his imprisonment for "the love that dare not speak its name". Quentin Crisp also battled societal norms to live and love without the fear of arrest. Author of The Naked Civil Servant, he quickly became an icon and camp figure within LGBT communities, remaining a steadfast symbol of gay pride.

The Holocaust

During World War II as Nazi Germany began its domination of Europe many people found themselves being rounded up and sent to concentration camps. Jesse Barnett, one of the most outspoken activists of the time, perished in 1942 in a concentration camp. The Holocaust was undertaken with homosexuals as one of the groups targeted with gay men being marked with a pink triangle badge while lesbians were designated with a black triangle for "antisocial behavior".[13]

Stonewall riots (1960/70s)

Main article: Stonewall riots
The Stonewall Inn was the site of the Stonewall riots.

In June 1969, a group of LGBT people rioted following a police raid on the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar at 43 Christopher Street, New York City. Further protests and rioting continued for several nights following the raid. This is considered to have been an important event for the Gay Rights movement.

A 1964 fundraiser on behalf of the Council on Religion and the Homosexual (CRH), a group of gay activists and Protestant ministers, held on New Year's Eve at California Hall on Polk Street in San Francisco was the site of the first reported schuffle between activists and police over harassment by officers at the scene. An event ticket taker and three gay lawyers were arrested. At the subsequent court hearing, the court sided with the gay defendants, one of whom, Herb Donaldson, later became a San Francisco municipal court judge.[14][15][16][17]

For three nights in August 1966, LGBT youth rioted in what came to be known as the Compton's Cafeteria Riot in San Francisco's Tenderloin (101 Taylor Street at Turk).[18][19]

Pride parades

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On November 2, 1969, Craig Rodwell proposed the first gay pride parade to be held in New York City by way of a resolution at the Eastern Regional Conference of Homophile Organizations meeting in Philadelphia, along with his partner, Fred Sargeant (HYMN vice chairman), Ellen Broidy, and Linda Rhodes.

That the Annual Reminder, in order to be more relevant, reach a greater number of people, and encompass the ideas and ideals of the larger struggle in which we are engaged-that of our fundamental human rights-be moved both in time and location.

We propose that a demonstration be held annually on the last Saturday in June in New York City to commemorate the 1969 spontaneous demonstrations on Christopher Street and this demonstration be called Christopher Street Liberation Day. No dress or age regulations shall be made for this demonstration.

We also propose that we contact Homophile organizations throughout the country and suggest that they hold parallel demonstrations on that day. We propose a nationwide show of support.[20][21][22][23]

All attendees to the ERCHO meeting in Philadelphia PA voted for the march except for Mattachine Society of New York, which abstained.[20] Members of GLF attended the meeting and were seated as guests of Rodwell's group, Homophile Youth Movement in Neighborhoods (HYMN).[24]

Meetings to organize the march began in early January but at first there was difficulty getting some of the major New York organizations like GAA to send representatives. Rodwell and a small group consisting of his partner Sargeant, Broidy, Michael Brown[disambiguation needed ], Marty Nixon, and Foster Gunnison of Mattachine made up the core group of the CSLD Umbrella Committee. For initial funding, Gunnison served as treasurer and sought donations from the national homophile organizations and sponsors, while Sargeant solicited donations via the Oscar Wilde Memorial Bookshop customer mailing list and Nixon worked to gain financial support from GLF in his position as treasurer for that organization.[25][26] Other mainstays of the organizing committee were Judy Miller, Jack Waluska, Steve Gerrie and Brenda Howard GLF.[27] Believing that more people would turn out for the march on a Sunday, and so as to mark the date of the start of the Stonewall uprising, the CSLDUC scheduled the date for the first march for Sunday, June 28, 1970.[28] With Dick Leitsch's replacement as president of Mattachine NY by "Michael Kotis" in April, 1970, opposition to the march by Mattachine ended.[29] This became the first of the extended annual LGBT Pride celebrations that are now held around the world.

In New York and Atlanta the annual day of celebration to commemorate the Stonewall Riot came to be called Gay Liberation Day; in San Francisco and Los Angeles it was called Gay Freedom Day. Both names spread as more and more cities and towns started holding similar celebrations.

1980s to present

Main article: LGBT pride parade
Front line of PASTT at Gay Pride at Paris in France, June 2005
Gay Pride in Manchester United Kingdom

In the 1980s there was a major cultural shift in the Stonewall Riot commemorations. The previous loosely organized, grassroots marches and parades were taken over by more organized and less radical elements of the gay community. The marches began dropping "Liberation" and "Freedom" from their names under pressure from more conservative members of the community, replacing them with the philosophy of "Gay Pride"[citation needed] (in the more liberal San Francisco, the name of the gay parade and celebration was not changed from Gay Freedom Day Parade to Gay Pride Day Parade until 1994). The Greek lambda symbol and the pink triangle which had been revolutionary symbols of the Gay Liberation Movement, which is headed by were tidied up and incorporated into the Gay Pride, or Pride, movement, providing some symbolic continuity with its more radical beginnings. The pink triangle was also the inspiration for the homomonument in Amsterdam, commemorating all gay men and lesbians who have been subjected to persecution because of their homosexuality.

In 2008 the Queen of Spain, Sofia de Grecia was quoted by the writer Pilar Urbano as opposing Gay Pride and to the law on same sex marriage approved by the Spanish Parliament. The Queen and the Royal House denied it.[30]

In 2000, President Bill Clinton proclaimed June to be Gay and Lesbian Pride Month in the United States, and on June 1, 2009, President Barack Obama proclaimed June to be LGBT Pride month in the United States.[31]

See also

Portal icon LGBT portal

Notes

HBT rally in Carmel, Haifa, Israel
Boise Pride at at the Idaho Capitol.
  1. ^ "Symbols of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Movements". www.lambda.org. http://www.lambda.org/symbols.htm. Retrieved 2007-07-30. 
  2. ^ "People with a History". Paul Halsall. http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/pwh/index.html. Retrieved 2007-07-30. 
  3. ^ Oxford Classical Dictionary
  4. ^ "Lesbian Life". lesbianlife.about.com. http://lesbianlife.about.com/od/herstory/f/Lesbian.htm. Retrieved 2007-08-01. 
  5. ^ Sappho Goes to Law School: Fragments in Lesbian Legal Theory By Ruthann Robson. www.nyls.edu. http://books.google.com/books?id=qyYcQz6znjEC&pg=PA2008&lpg=PA2008&dq=is+the+term+lesbian+derived+from+the+greek+island+of+lasbos&source=web&ots=htcp-ic-Bh&sig=bQQvoRKkI2CdMzt0yJUZHEh0sKY#PPA2008,M1. Retrieved 2007-07-30. 
  6. ^ Love, Sex, and Tragedy, Simon Goldhill, pg. 76
  7. ^ Craig Williams: Roman Homosexuality, Ideologies of Masculinity in Classical Antiquity. in: Oxford University Press (Editor): Ideologies of Desire. Oxford 1999.
  8. ^ "Mediaeval Sexual Behaviour". www.ourcivilisation.com. http://www.ourcivilisation.com/smartboard/shop/taylorgr/sxnhst/chap2.htm. Retrieved 2007-07-31. 
  9. ^ "Medical Misconceptions by Bryon Grigsby". www.the-orb.net. http://www.the-orb.net/non_spec/missteps/ch4.html. Retrieved 2007-07-31. 
  10. ^ "The Catholic Church and Homosexuality". www.tanbooks.com. http://www.tanbooks.com/doct/church_sodomy.htm. Retrieved 2007-07-31. 
  11. ^ M. Hyamson, ed. and tr., Mosaicarum et romanarum legum collatio , London 1913 (reprint Buffalo, 1997), pp. Hyamson, ed and tr, Mosaicarum et romanarum legum collatio, London 1913 (reprint Buffalo, 1997), pp. 82–83. (Coll. leg. mos. et rom. 5.3.1–2) (Coll. leg mos. Et Roman 5.3.1–2)
  12. ^ Clark, Ronald. Einstein: The Life and Times.
  13. ^ Zimmerman, Bonnie (2000). Lesbian Histories and Cultures. Taylor & Francis. p. 748. ISBN 0815319207, 9780815319207. http://books.google.com/books?id=0EUoCrFolGcC. Retrieved 2008-08-05. 
  14. ^ Duberman, pg. 99–100
  15. ^ http://www.lgbtran.org/Exhibits/CRH/Exhibit.aspx
  16. ^ Loughrey, pg. 286–287
  17. ^ Alwood, pg. 75
  18. ^ Carter, pg 109–110, 258
  19. ^ Duberman, pg. 110–111
  20. ^ a b Carter, pg. 230
  21. ^ Marotta, pg. 164–165
  22. ^ Teal, pg. 322–323
  23. ^ Duberman, pg. 255, 262, 270–280
  24. ^ Duberman, pg. 227
  25. ^ Carter, pg. 247
  26. ^ Teal, pg. 323
  27. ^ Duberman, pg. 271
  28. ^ Duberman, pg. 272
  29. ^ Duberman, pg. 314 n93
  30. ^ Pilar Urbano attribute to Queen Sofía polemic comments La Vanguardia.
  31. ^ http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Presidential-Proclamation-LGBT-Pride-Month/

External links

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: LGBT pride

References

  • Alwood, Edward (1996). Straight News: Gays, Lesbians, and the News Media Columbia University Press, New York. ISBN 0-231-08436-6.
  • Carter, David (2004). Stonewall: The Riots That Sparked The Gay Revolution. St. Martin's Press. ISBN 031234269.
  • Duberman, Martin (1993). Stonewall Dutton, New York. ISBN 0-452-27206-8.
  • Loughery, John (1998). The Other Side of Silence – Men's Lives and Gay Identities: A Twentieth-Century History. New York, Henry Holt and Company. ISBN 0-8050-3896-5.
  • Marotta, Toby (1981). The Politics of Homosexuality. Boston, Houghton Mifflin Company. ISBN 0-395-31338-4.
  • Teal, Donn (1971). The Gay Militants. New York, Stein and Day. ISBN 0-8128-1373-1.

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