Wednesday, June 6, 2007

It's the Gay Holiday Season Bitches!


For those who do not know, June is Gay Pride Month. Why? Well, back in June, 1969 a bunch of angry gays, led by fierce and fabulous drag queens decided that they would stand up and no longer tolerate harassment by the police. This took place outside of the Stonewall bar in Greenwich Village, New York City. It was common place for the police to harass and arrest glbt peeps at bars.

Rioting took place for over 2 days. That weekend is credited with ushering in the modern gay rights movement in the United States. That my friends is your brief history lesson.

Oh by the way, the Stonewall bar in NYC is still there and is on the National Registry of Historical Places.

So because of this, most major cities and even small towns hold gay pride events, parades, parties etc. during the month of June.

And sooo....this week is Pride Week in Boston with the parade this Saturday. I'm really excited because I'm marching this year! I've never marched in the parade before, always been an observer. It is such a fun time too...str8 or gay.

I remember my first gay pride parade. New York City, 1999. I had only been out for about 6 months. I went with two guys who are now my best friends. Wow, did we have an amazing time. I wasn't out to my parents yet, so I told them I was going to go visit friends from school on Long Island. I even went as far as calling those friends, giving them the story and making sure they knew what was up just in case. *sigh* the shittiness of living in the closet back then!

But anyway, I remember walking toward 5Th Avenue and seeing a bunch of protesters and I remember how angry I was when I saw them. I was like "fuck you, rot in hell!"

Pride was such a positive experience. For some reason I always thought of gay people as just white men. And NYC and all of its diversity really broke that down for me. I mean gays of every stripe were there. It was awesome to see so many people proud, happy, and free to be themselves.

And while at the pride festival in the village, I bought my very first small rainbow flag. All of my friends were like "awww....he's buying his first homo flag, how cute!". For some reason I was nervous when I buying it. I guess it was kinda like "um, yeah you really are gay!"

The next day at work, I was soo tired after getting home to CT at like 2am, but I remember standing at the counter with this huge smile on my face, really feeling proud of who I am. So go to pride people!

3 comments:

Lucie said...

I was at that pride with my sister... we could have gone back to SHU together... did you hear that this year they aren't having a pride fest after the parade in NYC... it sucks.... what group are you marching with?

Robbie said...

Gurl, i just read like 5 articles in a row of this blog. and can i say it has been very GAY. And i've been in it a lot and we've had a ton of fun the past few weeks. LOVE IT. Love you.

Maxi

Moore Martinez said...

Hello Dude,

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