By Mark Marchillo Odd Man Out
CLOSE THE STREETS. PITCH THE TENT. Come one. Come all. It’s coming to town. Nope, not the circus — it’s Gay Pride. Well, OK. A circus, of sorts.
Once thought of as a kind of liberation day, Gay Pride weekend is more like a big Indian tribal dance, complete with head dresses, big makeup and half-naked men.
Pride. Not sure about the pride issue — I mean, are we celebrating being gay, or just celebrating? Have gay, will party. Party being operative. Dancing, drugs and debauchery — the triple D. Afterall, “Pride” for most is nothing more than a big circuit party with hip-hop tents and Latin go-go boys.
While the festival this weekend will be lined with booths of do-gooders from the teen suicide helpline counselors of The Trevor Project to the parish of the WeHo Church, the main attraction will be fraught with butch babes on bikes, big women in wigs named Mama, and Sir Lancelot in chaps. Ah, the parade.
Some claim it’s a proclamation of our identity. We’re proud, why not? OK, and why are we doing this again? What is there to prove? And to whom?
I think we all know who and what we are. Is there still a need to show the rest of the world that we’re cool with who we are and you should be, too? More conservatives consider pride to be a circus of freaks. Because believe me, they’re out in droves. Then again, great! Love it! So cool! Different strokes, man. If there’s anything the aftermath of 9/11 should have taught us is that tolerance everywhere in society is important. So don’t hate.
I think what stands out to me now as I write this is that “Pride” has evolved. We no longer need to “show the world.” The world knows already. Seriously. But do we? What “Pride” really should be about for us, folks, is being proud of us — OK, yeah that’s obvious. But not just “us” — all of us. From the transsexual to the twink to the “that Republican dude” who you can’t imagine is gay with those politics. So many of us judge others in our own community with skepticism and downright prejudice. This weekend, our opportunity arrives. To be proud of that fat drag queen. The oddly beautiful tran-ny. The uptight suit. The pretty boy tease.
The troll. We’re all “us.”
And believe it or not, we’re all worthy of your pride. And love. And admiration. So let’s show the world we truly have pride.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on June 7, 2007. Read the original PDF.