Is Pride Passe?
I just got back from my eighth Long Beach Pride celebration. I used to look forward to the parade with anticipation every year. I love all of the floats and the costumes. But this year, it seemed like everyone took a low-budget approach to their parade entries. In the current economy, it makes a lot of sense. But it was still underwhelming.
Shannon and I took a cheap flight out to Long Beach last Thursday and fully expected to go to the festival. But once we got to Long Beach, we decided that paying $20 to stand in line for bad, over-priced food and water-down booze was just a waste of time and money. We spent $10 on a picnic and spent the day at the beach instead. It was the unintentionally anti-Pride weekend.
My dissatisfaction with Pride celebrations started emerging last year, when I attended Phoenix Pride for the first time. The $15 entry fee seems vastly out of whack for what you get. There’s no leather tent, no shade, and finding water is nearly impossible. Call me bitter if you want, but I don’t need to spend money to get drunk and sunburned. I could easily do that for free in the luxury of my own backyard. So why celebrate Pride at all?
All of the money raised at Long Beach Pride goes back into the community, so that $20 entry fee could be considered a charitable donation. Honestly, I’d rather give the $20 directly to the LGBT community organization of my choice. I don’t really need to hang out with a bunch of drunken fools to feel like I’m doing my part. All of the anti-Prop 8 signs in the parade were a bit depressing when I looked at them in conjunction with the sad-looking design-on-a-dime floats. As a community we are gleefully throwing our money down the marriage drain, while social services are woefully understaffed and underfunded. Voter turn out in WeHo and the Castro was under 40%. And 6 months after the election is a little late to be waving signs in a parade.
Some cute little gay boy asked me if I wanted a Gavin Newsom sticker – he was shocked when I told him no. “Do you know who he is?” he asked me incredulously.
“Yes.” I hoped the unimpressed look on my face was easy enough to understand, but the kid was determined to share his enthusiasm.
“That’s him right there. You can meet him.”
Unlike the Pride enthusiasts near me, I didn’t give a shit. Here’s why: I think it’s a waste of community resources to pin all of our hopes on marriage equality. We can get married now in several states. But where’s the change in attitudes towards the LGBTQ community? Where’s the money for HIV prevention and services? And where’s the end to hate crimes and job discrimination? You shouldn’t expect to see it, because it’s not going to materialize. Gavin Newsom can do all the political grand-standing he wants about marriage equality. But in my opinion, there are way more important issues that we need to be focusing on as a community.
I love leather daddies, bears, drag queers, twinks, biker dykes, and gay cheerleaders as much as the next fag hag. I get teared up every year I see a huge PFLAG contingent marching in the parade. And just for the sake of tradition, I always throw money into the giant rainbow flag that the people from the AIDS Food Bank carry down Ocean Boulevard. I participated this year, just like I have every year that I’ve attended Long Beach Pride. But the parade just seemed sad this year. I hope it’s just the economic downturn that’s taken the razzle dazzle out of Pride weekend for me, and not something more serious.
How about you? Do you think Pride has become passe?
The $20 entrance fee was a bit high, for sure.
The yearly revenue finds it’s way into state and municipal coffers, as well as into the hands of those agencies/services of which you speak. From the governmental moneies come a number of local and county services, like HIV testing, parenting resources, and psychological sessions.
Back to your question about *Pride* being passe, well, I have to disagree. Thousands flock–often courageously, for the first/last time, etc.–to show pride in LB or any other community. What one might label complacency, numbing, or money misspent, another finds affirmation, hope, and the seeds of change for a community.
Great point, Leo. Back in the day, going to the parade definitely gave me a sense of optimism and a feeling like I belonged to something.
While the floats may not have been elaborate….there is a sense of tolerance and community unlike any other place amongst all the inequality that surrounds us. I don’t feel the safety to hug and kiss on my wife any other time.
My local Pride is free. In fact, I’ve been to a few Pride fests in different (Canadian) cities, and they’ve all been free. Usually, this includes a parade through town, and then a park/street fair full of info booths and vendors, a beer tent (free to enter, $$$ for booze), kids’ activities, and a stage with assorted speeches and performances. Yes, there are also huge parties and other events that cost extra, but the main events are still community-oriented and don’t cost a thing.
I just checked the website of my local Pride to find out how they afford this, and the answer is two-part: The vendors at the park/street fair pay for the space they’ve rented, which makes sense. I thought the rest of the dough might come from beer companies, but no! It’s the local credit unions! So there you go: Invest in a credit union, and it will invest in you.
yes yes yes!! I agree 100% with this post. Sometimes when I am trying to organizing queer events in my town, I get so discouraged because no one wants to come to anything that doesn’t involve getting wasted. OR paying way too much money to do something that’s not even that fun. I really don’t understand the capitalism in the queer community. sometimes it feels like there are so many things dividing us in the LGBTQ community than there are things bringing us together.
I am making a personal choice to not attend my city’s Pride Festival, other than tabling at it during the only free event they have which is an outdoor “street fair” setup which different organizations and business tabling their services/products. Other than that, all of the other events cost money and every year its always the same, privileged people who attend these events. No wonder so many gay people are apathetic! Lower income people can’t afford to join the “gay club”.
I can go on and on, but i wrote a little about it on my blog: http://beyrownqueero.com/post/96099124/the-queer-class-divide
Pride? Passe? I don’t disagree with the criticisms about looking cheap and being expensive, but it seems contradictory to complain about both. The creeping bureaucracy that hikes the entry fee and reduces the services is dealt with by getting on the organizing committees and doing something about it. Unlike the movies (where prices up and the quality goes down and there isn’t anything you can do about it) the Pride Festivals are run by committees you can join. It’s a participatory experience, not a show.
I certainly agree that ‘follow the money’ is a key element in participating. My little gang does a lot of fundraising, and we spend quite a bit of time researching the groups to whom we contribute. Take the extra step, using GuideStar.org or Charitynavigator.org
It may be, if I may be so bold as to make a personal observation, that how you feel about the community and your place in it has evolved as you have aged. I certainly feel differently about Pride parades now (at 50) than I did when I was much younger. I went to watch them then, now I walk in them. If you don’t feel it, by all means stay home. We’ll miss you, but surely that’s better than being a wet blanket for the enthusiastic young people who are happy to be there.
I don’t think Pride is passe, but more importantly I don’t think you are either! Perhaps you just need to move from the sidelines; just tossing money into the big flag isn’t enough for you anymore. Sounds to me like you’re ready to move up into a more active role, like being on the planning committee, or raising awkward questions in the media about how things are being done and where the money goes, or keeping issues of vital importance (several of which you mention) from being overshadowed by causes-of-the-moment or political opportunism. Let’s get that old feeling back!
Sister Mary Fucking Poppins, Dinonun
Los Angeles Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence
Yes! I want to echo SMFP: “Pride isn’t passe, and you aren’t either!”
I believe the key to an excellent Pride is participation.
In my earlier comment about Pride in my home city, I forgot to mention: I don’t think there are *any* fancy floats in the parade… And that’s fantastic. Last year, a whole bunch of us bike geeks met up and inserted ourselves into the parade as The Queers With Gears. We were enthusiastically welcomed, especially by the group ahead of us: They were a mud-covered delegation of queer farmers, with a banner reading “The Rainbow Chard Collective”.
Surrounded by people like that, who wouldn’t feel proud?
OOO, I got schooled by a sister. Yeah!
I agree with what SMFP and Feral have said. And I also agree with Bronwyn. I do love being surrounded by the community. I guess I just have a case of the “ho-hums” this year. If I had seen Queers With Gears and the Rainbow Chard Collective, I would definitely have cheered.
It was a very respectful schooling, Serena! I love your posts. Thanks for writing!
I’ve often had mixed feelings about Pride. While I absolutely understand the need for these and similar events and have actually FELT pride and the comfort of being around others like me, I also see it as emphasizing our “otherness” when what I really want is to be part of a community of like-minded people that are not defined by their sexuality. I do also gripe about paying $$ to be vended to with a little music on the side. I appreciate the point made by SMFP about being part of the solution.
and if you can’t be a part of the solution (maybe due to super egos within the planning committees) then create alternatives!
If Pride isn’t appealing to you, think about things that are and make them happen! This is the ideology that has shifted my conservative town into a more radical/progressive place to be. and it works! You just need to put in the time and energy.
Serena,
I know we’ve been having this debate back and forth for a while but on Sunday I just was involved in my first major city pride parade and it was the experience of a lifetime! I only briefly encountered people with alcohol and it was such a small part I scarcely remembered it. The overall ambiance was one of love, celebration and acceptance. It was truly a magical thing to be a part of. Now if only I could find a way to join Queers with Gears…
Elizabeth, I’m glad that you found Pride to be so uplifting. Perhaps I was just feeling a case of the blahs this year (and last).