Police at Pri? Gay ps, LGBTQ activists stggle to see eye-to-eye

Contents:

• ‘WE SAY GAY’: FLORIDA’S LARGT PRI PARA DRAWS HUNDREDS OF THOANDS
• A BRIEF HISTORY OF CIVIL RIGHTS THE UNED STAT: NATNAL MARCH ON WASHGTON FOR LBIAN AND GAY RIGHTS
• LGBTQ HISTORY MONTH: THE ROAD TO AMERI'S FIRST GAY PRI MARCH
• POLICE AT PRI? GAY PS, LGBTQ ACTIVISTS STGGLE TO SEE EYE-TO-EYE

‘WE SAY GAY’: FLORIDA’S LARGT PRI PARA DRAWS HUNDREDS OF THOANDS

Petersburg’s first LGBTQ Pri march sce the onslght of the Covid-19 panmic, and jt three months after Florida’s ernor signed what crics ll the “Don’t Say Gay” law. Along wh rabow hats, eye makp, clothg and flags, there were prott signs the sea of Pri revelers, cludg those that said “We say gay” and "Bans off our bodi.

The measure, which crics dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” law, prohibs classroom stctn on genr inty and sexual orientatn Florida classrooms for stunts “ krgarten through gra 3 or a manner that is not age appropriate or velopmentally appropriate for stunts acrdance wh state standards. McKeon hosted a booth where he sold water bottl, T-shirts and stickers wh “Jt Say Gay” emblazoned across the ont of each em.

In the week until the “Don’t Say Gay” law tak effect — and a moment time that for many queer people has brought a sense of unease about their future — the ever-faiar “pri as prott” rea lored how many celebrated the largt event of s kd Florida, a state that has propelled self to the center of the latt culture war. Dpe the 90-gree heat and humidy that ntued to the early eveng hours and a smatterg of anti-gay protters holdg signs that said “J Lov You” and “How Can I Pray for You, ” patrons stayed for hours after the para, visg vendors and lol bs, and dancg North Strb Park.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF CIVIL RIGHTS THE UNED STAT: NATNAL MARCH ON WASHGTON FOR LBIAN AND GAY RIGHTS

” The “g for your children” chant has been ed for years at Pri events, acrdg to longtime march atten and gay rights activists, who said ’s one of many provotive exprsns ed to rega ntrol of slurs agast LGBTQ people. The charge is an echo of a s-old trope anti-gay activists have ed to pat the muny as a threat to the untry’s youths, an allegatn that some advot say endangers LGBTQ people. ”Karla Jay, the first female chair of New York’s Gay Liberatn Front and a profsor emera at Pace Universy, said ’s a strategy to “take the stg out” of accatns lobbied agast the LGBTQ muny.

“I grew up the time where was nsired really bad to be lled ‘gay’ or ‘lbian’ or anythg like that, and what we did is we reclaimed words, ” she said. More than 50 years after the famo Stonewall rts, the only Pri Month tradn more predictable than big cy paras June are the perennial plats about the “modifitn” of the gay rights movement.

LGBTQ HISTORY MONTH: THE ROAD TO AMERI'S FIRST GAY PRI MARCH

The days, the month often featur rporatns and nsumer brands participatg the celebratns, wh bright rabow packagg and gay-themed ems for sale. Claimg that a gay person needs to vote for a certa party or suate themselv on a certa pot of the iologil spectm is — to e some of today’s pop psychology terms — gatekeepg and gaslightg. Crics often sist that rporatns’ mment to gay pri is shallow and self-servg, or that rabow-themed merchandise and advertisg durg June end up tokenizg rather than celebratg the muny.

Buyg a T-shirt wh the phrase “Love Is Not a Crime” om Target won’t, on s own, change the world or end anti-gay discrimatn. Though there are historil nnectns between the gay rights movement and opposg palism, ’s a mistake for the LGBTQ muny today to embrace an anti-rporate attu.

The sire to associate gay inty wh a particular part of the polil spectm don’t reflect the muny’s diversy and n actively alienate people who are not part of that polil group — at the expense of the terts of the muny as a whole. What was origally known as the “gay liberatn” movement was born out of a wi-rangg cultural ferment on the left the 1960s and early 1970s that also gave rise to the women’s liberatn, anti-war and Black power movements, a cross-pollatn among activists groups scribed Cornell Universy’s archive on the history of gay activism.

POLICE AT PRI? GAY PS, LGBTQ ACTIVISTS STGGLE TO SEE EYE-TO-EYE

Given this background, and aid by the fact that their nservative antagonists were generally favor of ee-market enomic polici, gay rights activists durg the 1970s were associated wh a hostily toward palism, markets and rporatns. This was not entirely by flt — some gay activists were mted socialists who thought the two stggl were closely lked. Gay historian Mart Duberman, an activist himself, readily adms that “The gay left — like every other kd of left this untry — has rarely reprented more than a small mory.

Pani — often persuad by ternal affy groups formed by their own gay employe — implemented nondiscrimatory hirg l and extend benefs to same-sex domtic partners when virtually no natnal policians were willg to support such polici publicly. For most of the late 20th century, the private sector well outpaced the polil tablishment on gay while many early gay radils were unrstandably spic of rporate Ameri, we n now safely say that those worri were overstated — and, at tim, based on pre-existg iologil mments that had ltle to do wh sexual eedom or civil rights. Someone who happens to be an advote for both gay rights and socialist polics is ee to try to lk those two goals, but I as a gay man livg the 21st century don’t have to accept that they are nnected.

And ’s weirdly old-fashned to be repeatg hippie-era nunciatns of big bs when one of the world’s most valuable rporatns is led by an openly gay if was the se that most gay people were cltered at one end of the polil spectm prev generatns (impossible to say bee of the lack of pollg), that’s not te today.