Show me an out gay person, and I will show you a person who has, at least once in her life, had to listen patiently as some straight friend, family member, or total stranger asks why we need LGBTQ Pride. The straight person, after all, doesn’t have a festival or parade to celebrate his lifestyle, so why do the gays get one? Why do we have to flaunt our pride in everyone else’s face?
Thanks to YouTube vlogger David (OneUpdateataTime), we now have a readymade answer; LGBTQ site the Gaily Grind posted his reporting from a “straight pride parade” yesterday:
In case you missed the joke, straights don’t really need a special march because the whole world is a straight pride parade all day, every day. David explains further:
Pride parades and other events are [designed] to break into the hegemony of a single group being the default, to bring the minority into any tiny space they can try and grab in society to allow discussions and exposure that will benefit them by decreasing stigmas and stereotypes surrounding that minority. It helps members of that community not feel so alone and thus help combat issues like increased depression and suicide rates due to negativity surrounding them simply for who they are. It doesn’t take away from the space in society that that majority has, it just creates a new one for the minority so they can try and belong too.
Despite their traditional aesthetic immodesty, LGBTQ Pride parades are really rather modest affairs when you consider the larger social context. So the next time someone tries out the tired “but what about a straight pride parade?!?!” argument on you, remind them that they are already in one—it’s called daily life.
