With the ever so exciting Vancouver pride week just weeks away it is no surprise that everyone is running around talking about their “pride diets” and the parties they plan on attending this year. With all of the different events and all of the excitement that this time brings to Vancouver it is very easy to get caught up in the hype and forget why we have an annual pride parade to begin with.
Most will agree that the first pride parade actually started as a march to commemorate the events of the 1969 Stonewall riots. If you don’t know about the Stonewall riots I suggest you look it up, it’s probably one of, if not the most important moments in queer history. Anyways, the first march took place a year after the Stonewall riots on Saturday, June 28, 1970. This event was known as Christopher Street Liberation Day. On the same weekend gay activist groups on the West Coast of the United States held a march in Los Angeles and a march as well as a 'Gay-in' in were held San Francisco.
These marches were both serious and fun but served a larger purpose. The marches served to inspire the growing gay rights activist moment in the demanding of equal rights for all members on the GLBTQ community. These marches were repeated annually, billed as “Gay Liberation Day”, “Gay Freedom March” and “Gay Freedom Day”. While in later years these names were dropped and simply replaced with “Pride” however, the purpose remains the same.
Personally, I am proud to live in one of 7 countries that provide equal rights and protections to the LGBTQ community (the others being South Africa, Spain, Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Belgium and Iceland which has no army). Having said that, it is easy for us to forget about the original meaning on the pride parade, or the fact that 182 countries worldwide do not give its people these rights.
Vancouver plays host to thousands of people from around the world throughout the week and it is a great time to meet new friends. The parties are amazing, the visuals are spectacular and the community comes alive with excitement and joy. So by all means, get out there and enjoy it. Got to the parade, go to the parties and certainly take the chance to meet new people or see old friends. My one request is that while working on your “pride body” and planning out your pride parties, you keep in mind the millions of people worldwide for whom a pride parade, and full expression of self is forbidden.
We have a long way to go and pride parades and celebrations are a great way to inspire the movement. I just hope we as a community don’t lose sight of the goal of equal rights for every human being, all over the world.
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