Gay Pride is Here

It is a beautiful Sunday morning here in the Bay Area and the culmination of Gay Pride month activities. June is unofficially Gay Pride Month across the world. Certain cities and countries hold Gay Pride events in other months, but the vast majority of celebrations occur in June.

One of my coworkers last year asked me, "So what is the deal with Gay Pride anyway? Why do your people feel a need to celebrate in this manner?" I suppose the majority of people think of Gay Pride as a weekend when you see a lot of drunk drag queens on a float on television. This is part of Gay Pride, but certainly not the motivating factor.

In many parts of the world, people cannot openly or honestly express their sexuality. Heck, even in a city like San Francisco I know people who do not feel comfortable publicly expressing that they are gay. There is no doubt that members of the GLBT community have made unbelievable strides towards equality and acceptance in the last forty years in the United States and we continue to do so. However, we still have a long way to go. In many parts of the world, homosexuality is still a crime and people risk their lives by being who they are. In countries like Iran and Saudi Arabia, sodomy between two men is a crime punishable by death. Iran executed two men late last year for what appears to have been a consensual sexual encounter. In April of last year, two American gay men were beaten with a tire iron by a group of six people outside a gay bar on the island of St. Maarten. In Tanzania, being gay can get you twenty five years in prison and/or a fine. Jamaica merely has a sentence of ten years hard labor in contrast. I recently saw an Israeli film The Bubble at the Gay and Lesbian film festival here in San Francisco. The film dealt with an Israeli man and a Palestinian man who fell in love on opposite sides of the fence and the impossibilities of their relationship. After the screening, the director of the film remarked on how his film would not be able to be shown at any film festival in the Arab world. "They are not able to look beyond the gay story to see the real meaning, struggle, and humanity in the film." he stated. How very sad.

I thank God and my ancestors that watch over me every day that I am able to live a happy and open life as a gay man. As a citizen of the United States, being granted the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is not something I take lightly. Gay Pride is a day when we celebrate these rights and the continuing challenges that our community continues to tackle. It is also a time to look back on the people who have made it possible for us to stand here today. The gay men and women who died in Nazi Concentration camps in World War II, Walt Whitman, Willa Cather, Tennessee Williams, Harvey Milk, Billie Jean King, Dave Kopay, Michaelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Bessie Smith, Alan Turing, Martina Navratilova, Susan B Anthony, Elton John, Alexander the Great, Gertrude Stein, Alice B Toklas, Katharine Lee Bates, Esera Tuaolo, Rosie O'Donnell, Tom Ford, Barney Frank, Ellen DeGeneres, Hadrian, Frida Kahlo, Annie Liebowitz, Tony Kushner, Ian McKellen, Wilson Cruz, Matthew Shepard, Randy Shilts, Stephen Sondheim, Tchaikovsky, Pedro Zamora, Oscar Wilde, and the list could go on forever. This is what we are celebrating. Those who have gone before us and those of us that are standing up and being counted each and every day.

I wish all of you a Happy Pride weekend. I also would like to light a candle for those people for whom Pride is an unattainable reality. My wish is that you will one be celebrating with us all.

Cuidate.