Why does Pride matter? This is a common question the LGBT+ community receives from cisgender and heterosexual people. After all, if queer people are normal, why do they need a day to celebrate? What’s the big deal? Why do they need the pageantry and the parade? Queer people have gotten this question for as long as there has been Pride, and today, I want to answer it.
Since the 1970s, the LGBT+ community has made itself visible around the world through Pride celebrations, where people of all gender identities and sexualities can be who they want to be. Though Pride originated in New York City, the movement is now more mainstream.
Over the summer, I attended two Pride events: one in White Plains, New York (“Westchester Pride”), and another in Denver, Colorado. At Westchester Pride, I tabled for a booth run jointly by my local Unitarian Universalist congregation and Congregation Kol Ami, a local synagogue. For Denver Pride, I walked the event alone.
Westchester Pride was a family-centered event in a suburban area, and most of the attendees were parents and their children, as well as some local youth. Denver Pride was a little wilder. Some attendees had painted faces or wore goth attire. Others were dressed in drag. I even saw an older person in a T-shirt emblazoned with trans colors and reading “Proud Grandma.” While Westchester Pride took up one street, Denver Pride took up the entirety of Civic Center Park and slowed nearby traffic.
Although these events are celebratory, all was not rosy. During Westchester Pride, police officers were stationed at the entrances to prevent terrorist attacks. Denver Pride used volunteer security, which checked bags and asked guests to empty their water bottles. Even after so much progress has been made, queer people are still at risk. Truthfully, it’s a level of precaution that’s sensible but one that is somewhat uncomfortable, especially since similar precautions would not be nearly as necessary for other large events.
At Westchester Pride, I spoke to Rabbi Jason Fenster, who presides over Kol Ami as a spiritual leader. Although many religious leaders aren’t accepting of the LGBT+ community, Rabbi Fenster was enthusiastic about tabling at the event. When asked about the relationship between LGBT+ people and Judaism, he said, “All people are created in the image of God and are therefore worthy of love, dignity, and respect.”
At Denver Pride, I interviewed a booth run by the Colorado Psychiatric Society (CPS), which asked participants to write down what they do for self-care. They were tabling at Pride for the first time and were able to provide data from their field on some of the struggles faced by the queer community.
When asked about some of the mental health issues that their members face, Dr. Adriana de Julio, a representative of CPS, said, “The stigma LGBT+ people face causes issues with depression, anxiety, and negative coping mechanisms such as substance abuse.”
Adding to this later, she mentioned, “People of all types experience mental health issues, but LGBT+ people face higher rates of mental health struggles, including high suicide rates. The highest suicide rates in the United States are faced by trans women of color.”
So when people ask what the role of Pride is now, as a young trans person, my answer is simple. We still have a long way to go, and Pride is an important mechanism for promoting acceptance. Many cisgender and heterosexual people don’t have any interest in queer issues, or even outright despise them. This creates a hostile world for many queer people, and seems inescapable — until Pride marches in.
Pride is one of the few places where visibly out LGBT+ people are present. When I went to Westchester Pride, I realized that I hadn’t known so many queer people lived in Westchester. For someone who feels alone, for someone who badly needs a community that can genuinely support them, that’s a magical thing, that’s something that can save lives, and that’s why we still need Pride. We need to be together even now, regardless of how much progress we’ve made.
