I adore Pride Month for its celebration of queerfolk all around the world. I celebrate alongside every queer voice, loudly and proudly, because nothing has ever been wrong with being queer. Still, a strange feeling of dread accompanies my excitement as June approaches.
Every year, like clockwork, the bigots come out in droves during Pride, spewing their vile rhetoric and hateful insults. Meanwhile, companies change their socials to rainbows, advocating for diversity and acceptance while continuing to invest money into child labor or politicians pushing for anti-LGBTQ+ policies.
June reinvigorates hate as much as it does Pride. And as you will soon learn, hate has always been a part of Pride’s complicated history.
Pride from Prejudice
In July 1969, humanity landed its first man on the moon. The monumental achievement is thanks to countless scientists who paved the road for Neil Armstrong’s first iconic step on that beautiful grey rock. Yet for all that humanity achieved among the stars, the situation back home remained significantly more primitive.
A month before NASA fired up the rockets for Apollo 11, the NYPD threatened to fire on a crowd of rioting queer folx in Greenwich Village. On June 28, 1969, undercover police officers began a raid on a nightclub named Stonewall Inn. The police arrested queer people for horrific crimes such as “wearing makeup as a man” or “wearing pants as a woman.” As nightsticks swung and people got pinned against the walls, a fire lit up in the hearts of every patron.
The police officers, armed with heavy nightsticks and an unfounded sense of security from the dozens of angry, marginalized people around them, pushed patrons around. They loaded liquor and lesbians alike onto police cars like cargo, and the injustice of the situation started to attract a crowd.
Eventually, the crowd began to heckle the police officers, who naturally responded to shouts of “Gay Power” with excessive force. Soon enough, bottles, bricks, and purses flew in retaliation, and a riot broke out. The Stonewall Riot sparked a series of LGBTQ+ movements that sprung up in various parts of the United States throughout 1969.
And why did the Stonewall Riot become the catalyst for an LGBTQ+ revolution? Because queerfolk won.
Even the NYPD, at the height of its bigotry, admitted the embarrassing loss of New York’s finest. The sobriquet of Pride wasn’t just earned from confidence in one’s identity. Queerfolk earned that pride for winning against an institution of bigotry. The NYPD didn’t expect to lose quite so spectacularly to men in dresses and women in pants.
Nowadays, countries celebrate June as Pride Month in remembrance of the Stonewall Riots. International groups from Serbia, Nicaragua, the Philippines, Brazil, Canada, and many others honored the event as a symbolic gesture of solidarity.
The Culture War
While queerfolk prepare for Pride Parades, homophobic grifters on social media ready a slate of the worst takes you’ve ever seen. The moment June 1 hits, feeds become rife with posts from bigots demonizing “Pri-DEMON-th.” Ironically, they seem as excited about Pride Month as queerfolk are, much as they deny it.
They’re a big part of why Pride Month stresses me out. The emotional whiplash of cute couples waving rainbow flags to conservative aunts sharing the vilest homophobic memes on social media is enough to rip my head off my body. In my heart of hearts, I know these are just the flailing of a dying breed. People are becoming more accepting, and history proves this to be the case.
And yet the hateful few grow louder and louder, not realizing the boat they’re on is slowly taking water. Unfortunately, some of those few have the means to set back queer rights for a couple more years through hateful policies. Of course, these politicians wouldn’t have such power if they didn’t have the money machines behind them.
Profitable Progress
Capitalist corporations didn’t just see progress in Pride parades. They also saw profits. Lots of it. About $4 trillion even, according to corporate analysts. The commodification of Pride showcases the unsettling manipulation of large corporations on unsuspecting queerfolk. After years of being unseen or outright mocked in advertisements, why shouldn’t they buy some Nike Shoes with rainbows on them?
Queer ads have become a win-win for many brands in the modern day. Social media becomes a light show of multicolored profile pics and Pride merch every June, with queer employees spotlighted and patted on their minimum-wage backs. The LGBTQ+ community shares these posts in praise, while bigots share these posts in outrage.
Either way, the brand got shared.
I don’t begrudge people for being happy about this. Hell, I am happy about this. The very notion of corporations pandering to queerfolk is, in itself, a cultural win. You won’t see me complaining about gay people getting that bag. However, the “win” has a ton of asterisks attached to it.
As soon as June ends, the rainbow lights turn off, and companies act like queerfolk don’t exist for the next eleven months. Some corporations who waved rainbow flags even bankrolled politicians with the power to halt LGBTQ+ rights. For the curious, the names include Amazon, Walmart, Verizon, Wells Fargo, Home Depot, AT&T, and many others.
Two steps forward, two steps back.
Stressful Celebrations
I’ve never been the best at handling my feelings. I have five emotions in my head, and they’re all different variations of Anxiety from Inside Out 2. I know I’m supposed to be happy, but it doesn’t help when my cynicism is backed by reality. Bigotry still exists. Corporations profit from marginalized groups.
Even so, I remember that faithful June night in 1969 when a crowd of angry queerfolk fought for their rights. I remember every Pride Parade since, every letter from the LGBTQ+ acronym making themselves seen by a society that once kept them out of sight. I remember the bracelet my girlfriend made for me, showcasing the red, purple, and blue of bisexuality.
Yeah, some things still suck. But there’s a hell of a lot more things to be happy about. And I will fight to keep things that way.
