It's funny how "celebrate Pride" was barely a thing to say when I was a young man and queer street activist. Usually, we still said "march." As in, "Are you marching this year or just watching?"
In New York City at least, the main Pride march was a distinctly angry, rebellious affair that still felt mostly like a protest. The march was led off by the distinctly angry "Dykes on Bikes," many shirtless, fists in the air, shouting radical slogans to roars of crowd approval.
There was no mistaking those angry dykes for people who wish to perpetuate the status quo with minor changes. They were (and still are as an organization) radical and unapologetic about it.
Sadly, while angry dykes with raised fists still lead off some major Pride parades in the U.S., many of those parades no longer feel like marches, no longer feel rebellious, and seem to accept the presence of the angry dykes only because of tradition. We don't like to mess with tradition, do we?
Back in my day, we used to celebrate AFTER the Pride march. I used to dance in the street down in the Village at different events sponsored by different groups. The parties weren't the main point of Pride. They were what we did after Pride ... to let off steam.
And of course, we were literally taking back the streets by roping them off and filling them with our bodies — which were every shade of queer and every variety of human.
Marginalized street queens like Marsha Johnson were everywhere at those after-Pride events. We felt mostly safe from the cops because of our temporarily dense, packed existence in the street.
This was a unique feeling for us. Even the Pride march itself was lined by uniformed cops who went out of their way to sneer at us and show us how much they despised us. Feeling safe from them, for even a little while, was liberating.
But at one of my first Prides, something strange happened. My partner Lenny and I were walking around one of the after parties, and a cute young guy walked up and handed us each a shot of vodka. "Compliments of Absolut," he said. "Drink up, and happy Pride!"
Lenny and I were a little gobsmacked. A major beverage corporation was giving away vodka to queer people? What? And "happy Pride?" Who says that, we asked each other.
Well, decades later, everybody says it. I say it! (And I mean it for lots of positive reasons.) But with corporate money increasingly flowing into Pride organizing groups, the after party is now seen by a lot of people as the main event.
The nation's largest Pride organizations are now run by people who have lots of leisure time and wealth, who almost necessarily tend to be white men and a few women with corporate incomes and deep corporate connections.
They aren't rebels. In many ways, they feel like they've made it. They're successful, they're happy, and wow do they want to party!
(This phenomenon tends to be more true in big cities than in more isolated areas.)
The Take Back Pride movement in the US sprung up several years ago in New York City and now operates in other major cities too. They sponsor alternative marches focusing on social justice for all marginalized people, and they pressure corporate events to reflect a more radically queer spirit.
They've had some success, including spearheading the resistance that forced Heritage of Pride (HOP) in NYC to finally ban uniformed cops from the March and from after-festivals.
The corporate fat cats who run HOP had steadfastly resisted the cries of the marginalized, but when alternative marches started to significantly compete, HOP caved.
That's a minor victory, but it's a real one.
And it shows that the spirit of street protest still lives in Pride, and it can be harassed effectively sometimes.
Voices like yours can help that resistance spread! So thank you for this story.
