Welcome to the June issue of Diversity Rules Magazine and “My Two Cents.” It’s hard to believe June is upon us and with it comes pride season! It’s always exciting to see the many different pride celebrations happening all across New York, the country and the world!
There is a rather disturbing trend beginning with many pride celebrations in that many are being subverted by corporate run queer media and advocacy organizations that seem to want to filter the celebrations in a very antiseptic fashion with an attempt to squelch and hide the more colorful elements of our big queer tent.
We must resist that effort, and maintain and enhance our individuality and reject this artificial control by the corporate run queer media and advocacy agencies. We must celebrate our vitality and diversity, as well as respect the whole range of individuals under this big rainbow tent of ours. Do not allow the corporate media and PC ridden advocacy groups to shove the more colorful people of our community into the shadows. They are the ones that took charge on that hot summer night in 1969 and catapulted the modern gay rights movement into existence.
Being the Editor/Publisher of an independent gay press I say shame on those that have allowed, and actually have supported the co-opting of the gay rights movement by this artificial vision of who we are and have succumbed to the sanitizing of the gay culture that once was the true lifeblood — the fire — of the gay rights movement. We must never abandon pride celebrations.
Given the many advancements that have occurred over the years and the greater acceptance of LGBTQ individuals, there has been some pressure by some in the queer community to abandon pride events and to sell out to the more politically correct and sterile assimilation of “queerness” into the “straighter” side of the spectrum.
While it may be true that the focus of pride celebrations have been altered since many of the issues being debated and fought for, such as same sex marriage, have been won and are no longer in such an eminent position. However, there are other rights that are important to the LGBTQ community that are still being denied and which should become the focus of pride celebrations in the future.
Either way, pride celebrations should never cease. We should never allow our individuality to be subverted into a more sterile, straight image guided by political correctness. Pride celebrations should transition into a vociferous celebration of diversity and a commemoration of what transpired on that hot summer night in 1969 that fostered today’s gay rights movement.
We must never forget whence we came. Pride celebrations will prevent that from happening.