The Question – the need and origins of pride
This month is global pride month, so I wanted to explore the history of pride and as a gay man who has never been to pride what it means to me. Unfortunately, this year due to coronavirus and social distancing means that many of these events will be cancelled due to coronavirus.
The story of pride goes back to 1969, when New York police raided a gay bar The Stonewall Inn, as it was an ‘illegal’ club in Greenwich village. In the state at the time it was still illegal to engage at the time in homosexual behaviour, in public (holding hands, kissing or dancing with someone of the same sex).
There was however a loophole in the law, operating as a private “bottle bar,” which did not require a liquor license because patrons were supposed to bring their own liquor. Club attendees had to sign their names in a book upon entry to maintain the club’s false exclusivity.
On the morning of 28th June 1969, the police raided the bar with a warrant where they found illegal alcohol and people ‘masquerading,’ meaning men dressed in clothes of women which was illegal at the time. Although this was a loophole in the law, as it was intended only to criminalize costumed dress used as a cover for another crime, the police were forced to let the man go.
A year after the first pride march was held in New York, that was a beginning of the pride movement, with thousands of people marched in the streets of Manhattan from the Stonewall Inn to Central Park in what was then called “Christopher Street Liberation Day,” America’s first gay pride parade.
Within weeks pride began to spread across the US for 1970, these aimed to widen the movement and as they grew and became more mainstream. Pride in my view, is a celebration of what we have achieved, to fight for continued decriminalisation around the world and be inclusive of everyone.
The first London pride took place in 1972, from research this is not the pride we would know today. The sponsors and big businesses wanted to stay away from being associated with LGBT people, as there were only around 2,000 people.
However, according to Peter Tatchell, LGBTQ+ activist and one of the attendees at the first march, remembers ‘they treated us like criminals. It was a bit scary’. The first march was extremely political, taking place at a time when homosexuality was considered an illness and kissing in public could get you arrested.
The rainbow flag was introduced in 1978, with its eight colours (sexuality symbolized by hot pink, life by red, healing by orange, the Sun by yellow, nature by green, art by blue, harmony by indigo, and spirit by violet), was designed by San Francisco artist Gilbert Baker and has been adopted worldwide.
This is when pride become part of everyday life, but as the world moved into the 1980s the LGBT movement had a fight on its hands with AIDs. In a world currently living through the coronavirus epidemic, the AIDs crisis is believed to have started in Africa before becoming a global pandemic mainly affecting gay men.
Pride then became about activism; the protests lead to more understanding of HIV and Aids.
Pride should celebrate inclusivity, the however, in recent years there have been reports of exclusion of disabled people. As people who tick the other box, we should always be united, and it is awful when minority groups aren’t able to take part.
Although Homosexuality was partially decriminalised in 1967, there was still a need to fight. Discrimination was still there as it was still classed as an ‘illness,’ and children were taken away from their parents.
Nowadays, that would be illegal, but it would take another forty years for LGBT people to gain the right to adopt children. Researching the history of pride, seeing the reason why pride was need even after the decriminalisation.
Pride is still a protest in my view, around the world we know that people still aren’t able to live an open life as LGBT people. Pride should be a message to those who are struggling with their sexuality or gender that they are worthy.
Last year’s Brighton pride saw many disabled people unable to watch Kylie Minogue’s performance. Figures say that from a survey 128 people with disabilities 80% had been put off attending an event due to access concerns in the past year, and 70% reported feeling unwelcome as a Deaf or disabled LGBT+ person.
I feel that for some LGBT people who also are in ‘another box,’ sometimes get forgotten about. We don’t get the exposure although the legacy of Ryan O’Connell’s Special, I think for me it showed that gay disabled people can have it harder. But he wanted a sense of normality showing the struggles of any LGBT person.
Although homosexuality was decriminalised in 1968 the government of Margrett Thatcher passed the local government act which included Section 28. This banned “the teaching of the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship.”
I wonder what it was like for those teen and young adults at the time who were LGBT, as schools were left unable to support them as this would break the law. At the time, the British Social Attitudes Survey, three-quarters of the population believed homosexual activity was “always or mostly wrong.” Just 11 per cent thought it was “never wrong.”
These views compared to now would be alarming however a report by the BSA survey signalled the country had “reached a point of plateau”, where acceptance of those not fitting within “conventional norms” is beginning to level off. This is the first drop since Section 28.
I think this further demonstrates why pride is important, the reminder of why we still need pride. It’s a reminder of who we are and why we need to continue to defend the rights which we have won, however, they cannot betake for granted.
It was a Labour government who again lead the way, in two years they repealed Section 28 which was the first anti-gay law introduced in the UK since the 1968 Sexual Offences Act repealed most anti-gay laws. Watching Ru Paul’s Drag Race Divina de Campo spoke about this.
“I got a lot of flack from pretty much everybody in the school. Growing up was really hard. Growing up for everybody is hard, but then you add on being gay and it’s just a whole other level, particularly for the time I grew up in,” said De Campo.
However, this took time, the first attempt in 2000 was blocked by the House of Lords by the bishops and a cabal of right-wing, religiously-motivated peers. Among these was Baroness Janet Young who was, at the time, a patron of the Christian Institute – which had led a mischievously dishonest campaign in favour of Section 28 and against its repeal.
Looking back at that time reading about the experiences of LGBT people at the time I cannot imagine what it would have been like for me or anyone going through education at that time. I swear that for some children must and still do use the word ‘gay’ as an insult
Within two years the first step towards equality was given, with Civil Partnerships, although I do not believe that this validated same-sex relationships in the UK. While yes it gave same-sex couples the right to have their relationship recognised in law, I believe having marriage for heterosexuals and civil partnerships for gay couples wasn’t equal.
I think for some LGBT people at the time it would have been giving them the legitimacy of their relationships being valid, but personally thinking if I were a gay man marrying between 2005-2013 I think I wouldn’t have felt equal.
The Marriage Act was introduced in 2013 by the coalition and largely supported by the official and most opposition, brought in my view full marriage and equal rights for LGBT people. In just ten years we moved from civil partnership to full marriage equality.
In recent years as I often write since the referendum research and figures from the government show there has been a rise in homophobia. This doesn’t help when our prime minister Boris Johnson has in the past called gay men “bum boys” and Ann Widdecombe, saying that science “might produce an answer” to being gay.
Also, in 2018 the government went further, requiring LGBT issues to be taught in schools a big jump in fifteen years. However, this sparked a protest by mainly Muslim parents, after the no outsides programme designed to show children to “be proud of who they are while recognising and celebrating difference and diversity”.
I believe that religion shouldn’t play a roll in educating our children, they should be aware off the fact that some men love men and some women love women. Being gay means, you are sexually and romantically attracted to men, it’s human nature. There is nothing wrong with that.
We didn’t reach full equality in 2019, another topic touched on Drag Race when Blu Hydrangea spoke about this. She explained, “I was aware that Northern Ireland wasn’t a part of the conversation within the community and in the UK.”
The DUP are the most anti-gay ‘mainstream’ party in the UK which is in government, defeating every attempt to bring Northern Ireland in line with the rest of Great Britain. They believe “Peter will not marry Paul in Northern Ireland.”
First minister Arlene Foster said in 2017, “This suggestion that every single person who’s a homosexual wants to change the definition of marriage is actually wrong.”
I believe that it would be impossible to repeal the law as it would probably end up in the courts, which would rule it illegal to repeal.
While pride may be now a celebration in the UK, as legally everyone has the same rights, pride serves as a reminder of why we need to continue to fight to protect our rights and fight for the rights of others around the world.
My hope, though I believe it is impossible as a minimum, that in my lifetime we see homosexuality totally decriminalized around the world…