Why Celebrate Pride?

Because it’s good to recognize and celebrate our victories!

My friend Todd reads a passage at our wedding ceremony in Toronto City Hall – in May 2009. I am on the left and Ron is in the middle. At the time, marriage equality was still not recognized in the United States, where Ron and I are both from.

The end of government sanctioned employment, housing, and health care discrimination, on the basis of sexual orientation, marks a great human rights victory. The gains in terms of legal rights, quality of life, freedom, and social and economic mobility for gay, lesbian, and bi people (achieved in less than a century’s time) are well worth celebrating.

In Canada, same sex couples – and gay, lesbian, and bi people – are no longer confined to the margins of society. We can rent and own homes throughout the country, we can be “out” in our jobs, and we have full access to the legal and social benefits and protections of family law (marriage and common law partnership), have equal health care access, and are able to participate fully in the life of greater society.

The end of government sanctioned discrimination against same sex couples (and lesbian, gay and bisexual people), along with broad social acceptance for sexual orientation diversity. In sum: we can be ourselves. We are no longer forced into the margins of society. With this diversity and respect comes diversity in viewpoints, lifestyles, politics, and perspectives for us and others.

Universal Human Rights Benefit Everyone

Pluralism, diversity, and participation in society are just some of the benefits of the major gains achieved by the gay and lesbian rights movements. These benefits extend to everyone, not just same sex couples and gay, bi, or lesbian people. Pride month is a time to celebrate these victories, especially because everyone gains when rights are respected on a universal basis and extended to all, without discrimination. Desegregation, social integration, universal equality, and the extension of freedom, rights, and liberty to all benefits everyone in society.

So much has changed for bi, lesbian, and gay people in Canada over the past sixty years. I am grateful to live in a society that changed course in these ways. Canada has changed a lot, in terms of respect for same sex families and lesbian, bi, and gay people. Coming from the United States, it has changed even more for me. Our relationships are no longer criminalized. (I’ve lived in a state at a time when same sex relations were still a felony crime there.) The AIDS pandemic is no longer an untreatable death sentence, with medical treatment now widely available for gay and bi men, and others infected with HIV, throughout North America. The legal protections for our families that come from marriage and common law partnership are now available to us. We can adopt children, get married, and work in education, child care, and other community vocations.

These victories are more than symbolic, as these protections provided by our gains help provide for economic security, especially when relationships end. Changes in family law result in laws that recognize our rights to care for each other, have access to health care, and to secure our rights to property, pensions, and income. These reflect major gains in our daily lives and are the result of political organizing and demanding equality and respect. Decriminalization, the availability of HIV treatment, the end of government sanctioned discrimination, and marriage equality are all major victories worth celebrating.

We Celebrate Our Victories at Pride…

Just decades ago, when lesbian, bi, and gay people had little choice but to either live in the “gay village” or in the closet, pride parades were centred on each community where we lived. With discrimination and segregation in full force, pride was when our bookstores, night clubs, community clubs and sports teams, churches and other places of worship, political organizations, neighbourhood politicians, activist groups, local businesses, and other organizations came together for block parties, neighbourhood parades, beer gardens, concerts, and other community-building events. Everyone was invited; those who did not, or could not live in the city, joined the party. Pride was part block party, part political rally, and part parade. Because communities are messy, vibrant, and diverse, pride was always all three of these things.

…and We Keep Expanding Human Rights to All

The world is not perfect and not everyone agrees that lesbian, gay, and bi people should be treated with respect and granted equal access to public institutions or equal respect. There are countries in the world that I cannot visit. Worse, people in those countries are not granted the same rights and protections that I am provided at home. This is gravely unjust.

Here at home, opponents to non-discrimination, on the basis of sexual orientation, are on the rise and calls for division and separation grow louder. Sexual orientation segregation is pushed by many, despite the many gains for equality, non-discrimination, and diversity achieved over the past decades. We cannot go back to the days when gay, bi, and lesbian people are pushed aside, marginalized, and treated like political pawns. The struggle for our rights is worth more than celebrating, because our lives are so much better because of the gains achieved through this struggle. Major victories, that affect every aspect of lives, should be celebrated because they matter so much to us all.

But, even with all that, the now and here is a good time and place for gay, lesbian, and bi people. We are freer, more mobile, and equally respected by the law. We have space to occupy and “be ourselves”. Given these victories, now’s certainly a good time for us to celebrate!

A political funeral, held outside of the White House in 1998, for my friend Steve. His partner, Wayne, is on the far left. Steve and Wayne were AIDS activists that I worked with in the early 1990s and it was Steve’s wish to have an open casket funeral as a protest to the U.S. government’s AIDS inaction. Protest and direct action for a better response to the AIDS crisis helped advance political and civil rights gains for lesbian, gay, and bi people in the United States.

[The top photo, of my wedding in Toronto, is from 2009 and the bottom photo, of an open casket AIDS protest funeral in Washington, D.C., is from 1998. In the span of just eleven years, so much changed. While the gains were, and are, uneven, and not everyone experienced them in that span, the timeline remains striking. We protested, organized, lobbied, and mobilized for equality and the result was marriage equality, an end to government sanctioned discrimination, massive changes in drug trials, hospice care, and HIV/AIDS research investment, and broad social acceptance for sexual orientation diversity. Pride is one way to celebrate these gains. It is also a time to reflect on the importance of the values of equality, unity, and universal rights — as providing the means for improving our lives in meaningful ways.]