Being Pride Week hereabouts, I thought a post on Pride would be appropriate.  The title of this post is, of course, a play on the well-known biblical phrase from Proverbs.

So, what is Pride?  Well, depends who you ask.

These days, you are most apt to hear about it being a celebration of GLBT (+ an alphabet soup of other letters that have been appended thereto) rights, achievements, solidarity, community.

And, we have much to celebrate, and much awareness still to bring to the community at large; we have come far but have far to go.

But, much about the Pride parade has always made me uncomfortable. 

For us to demonstrate our existence, our numbers, even our flamboyance and exceptional abilities and artistry is, for me, the essence of what a Pride parade should be about.

But, so much of it turns into what seems to me a demonstration of how vulgar can we be and, “Ha, ha! There’s nothing you can do about it!”

Back in December, 1967, our Prime Minister here in Canada famously said, “There’s no place for the state in the bedrooms of the nation,” as he introduced an historic bill to de-criminalize private ‘homosexual acts.’

Some of the things I have seen at Pride seem to have turned his whole concept on its head.  Having barred the state from entering our bedrooms we are now, instead, taking our bedrooms to the state, where they have no business being any more than the reverse.

Getting to Know Us

We have told those outside our community that we are just like them; we are your doctors, your neighbors, your plumbers,  your waiters, your friends, your relatives.  We are everywhere.

And, that’s what we are.

In fact, here where I live, as in many places on this continent and elsewhere, our once-ghetto-ized gay community has pretty much dispersed now that its members feel welcome most anywhere.

The trans community is many years behind, and with still a relatively steep uphill climb in front of it.  That means we are the most vulnerable to negative press and imagery.

So when, with everyone’s eyes upon us, the GLBT community puts on a spectacle that, in parts, feeds into the negative stereotypes there are about us, it is the trans community that suffers most.  But don’t think the rest of the community isn’t damaged by it too.

Remember, Pride can be one of the Seven Deadly Sins…

It can also be a well-founded sense of self and accomplishment that we don’t let go to our heads.

Everyone has a right to express themselves as they please.  But, while it may be a hoot to flip the bird at society, I think we have, in large measure, outgrown that.  Haven’t we?

So, on this Pride Week, let’s all be proud of who we are, proud of what we have accomplished, and let’s try to behave in ways that make us proud.