What’s this “Pride” Month All About?
by K. Jacqueline Pollock
Well it’s June. It’s the middle of the year, for you sports fans that means the year is at halftime.
Currently as I write this we’re waiting for the start of Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs (NHL)
where the Colorado Avalanche and the Tampa Bay Lighting are going against each other to see
who will take home Lord Stanley’s Cup this year. Also the NBA Playoffs finished up a week ago
and we just had the Summer Solstice so it’s hot and I mean damn hot in Illinois and I despise
HOT WEATHER.
I”m a winter girl. I love wearing my turtleneck sweaters, nice skirt suits (with nylons of course),
boots, etc. Now summer I like to wear my heels and flats yet in summer it’s too hot for nylons,
however, Summer does bring us June and Pride Month.
Pride Month. So, what are we celebrating and being proud of? Sexuality? Identity? Pride Month
basically remembers the beginning of the LGBTQIA+ liberation movement. LGB people really
aren’t discriminated against that much anymore, it’s the TQIA+ community that people show
more and more bigotry towards and they call it fear. What are they afraid of? They’re not afraid
of anything except something they know nothing about.
In Illinois by State Law (see 410 ILCS 39/1) all single use restrooms must be marked as unisex,
which if you think about it makes sense really, since only one person at a time is in there and
there’s a lock on the door. Recently, I was in a group of people where the head of an
organization said “I don’t care if your a man and like men, a woman and like women, a man and
like women, a woman and like men, a woman who identifies as a man, a man who identifies as
a woman just clean up after yourself.” She was referring to a person leaving urine or excrement
on a toilet seat. I can’t say that didn’t bug me, however, other things have bugged me recently.
I’ve even been called things such as “A man that dresses like a woman” “a he-she” and more
ignorant things. Another person said to someone they were talking to and referring to me “I can’t
tell if that’s a man or a woman” and this all happened in places I have to be. I just walked away
from it. As the comedian Ron White, sometimes referred to by himself, as Ron “Tater Salad”
White once so eloquently stated “You can’t fix stupid.”
Pride month doesn’t really have anything to do with being “proud,” Pride Month celebrates the
beginning of the movement to achieve equality and dignity for the LGBTQIA+ community that
where the Colorado Avalanche and the Tampa Bay Lighting are going against each other to see
who will take home Lord Stanley’s Cup this year. Also the NBA Playoffs finished up a week ago
and we just had the Summer Solstice so it’s hot and I mean damn hot in Illinois and I despise
HOT WEATHER.
I”m a winter girl. I love wearing my turtleneck sweaters, nice skirt suits (with nylons of course),
boots, etc. Now summer I like to wear my heels and flats yet in summer it’s too hot for nylons,
however, Summer does bring us June and Pride Month.
Pride Month. So, what are we celebrating and being proud of? Sexuality? Identity? Pride Month
basically remembers the beginning of the LGBTQIA+ liberation movement. LGB people really
aren’t discriminated against that much anymore, it’s the TQIA+ community that people show
more and more bigotry towards and they call it fear. What are they afraid of? They’re not afraid
of anything except something they know nothing about.
In Illinois by State Law (see 410 ILCS 39/1) all single use restrooms must be marked as unisex,
which if you think about it makes sense really, since only one person at a time is in there and
there’s a lock on the door. Recently, I was in a group of people where the head of an
organization said “I don’t care if your a man and like men, a woman and like women, a man and
like women, a woman and like men, a woman who identifies as a man, a man who identifies as
a woman just clean up after yourself.” She was referring to a person leaving urine or excrement
on a toilet seat. I can’t say that didn’t bug me, however, other things have bugged me recently.
I’ve even been called things such as “A man that dresses like a woman” “a he-she” and more
ignorant things. Another person said to someone they were talking to and referring to me “I can’t
tell if that’s a man or a woman” and this all happened in places I have to be. I just walked away
from it. As the comedian Ron White, sometimes referred to by himself, as Ron “Tater Salad”
White once so eloquently stated “You can’t fix stupid.”
Pride month doesn’t really have anything to do with being “proud,” Pride Month celebrates the
beginning of the movement to achieve equality and dignity for the LGBTQIA+ community that
started way back in 1969, at the Stonewall Inn, at gay club in Greenwich Village part of New
York City. It happened because people were sick and tired of being shunned, hated, and despised simply
for who they love or how they identify, having their sexual orientation and gender identity being
illegal, such as police raiding their private business where they were free to be whoever they really
are.
So why do we celebrate pride? We celebrate to remember that the LGBTQIA+ community still
has hurdles to overcome. Just like those who had to overcome the obstacles of racial
integration, religious integration, etc. the LGBTQIA+ community isn’t anywhere near achieving
equality AND it might not happen in the next few years, decades, or even in my own lifetime.
However, just like the other oppressed communities, the LGBTQIA+ community IS going to
continue to fight for equality, for protection from discrimination, and for everything that needs to
be fought for to achieve a society where people, sitting at a cookout or a picnic, for example, can simply:
“So, you’re part of the LGBTQIA+ community, okay, yeah okay cool, please pass theketchup?”
K. Jacqueline Pollock, former Seattle resident, forever a Seattleite at heart, currently lives in Macomb, Illinois, continues to work with Community Radio Station WTND-LP 106.3 FM Macomb, Illinois (a 501c3 Non-Profit, all monetary donations tax deductible), as well as a CNA, and now also serves as Treasurer of the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd in Macomb, Illinois, where ALL are welcome regardless of any status.
Jacqueline/Jacqui/Jackie
Whatever You Call Me:
Always remember that what Kathie Lee Gifford once said of herself is true about me too:
"It's no secret that I love to talk, but the real secret is I love to listen, too." Kathie Lee Gifford
Great piece!
ReplyDeleteThank you!
ReplyDelete