Pride in What?
September in Rehoboth means that the season is over, that there are
fewer tourists, less traffic, and no parking meters. But it also features
the Pride celebration at North Shores. As I prepare for this year’s
Pride, I recall what Pride festivals and parades have meant in other
places I have lived. I remember the Christopher Street West parades in
West Hollywood twenty years ago, when there would always be the token
fundamentalists with their same tired old signs from year to year. I
remember Pride in the Park in Roanoke, Virginia, in the early 90s, when
many would be afraid to attend because the police would be recording
license plate numbers for later harassment. I remember the DC Pride events
in the late 90s, when I realized that somehow those same anti-gay signs
and slogans had transmigrated to the East Coast from the West. In
recalling these Pride celebrations of decades gone by, I find myself
amazed and thankful that the Rehoboth events thus far have been free of
government harassment or religious cat-calls. They have truly been
celebrations of Pride.
Having said that, I need to add that we must not take this absence of
animosity for granted. I believe that—particularly this year when gay
issues are part of the election rhetoric— we must be on "red
alert" to safeguard our pride and our dignity. There are some here at
the beach who begrudge gay and lesbian people our awareness and our
visibility. There are religious groups that have formed in the past year
that would seek to diminish our pride through conformity to a spiritual
paradigm of heteronormativity, either by encouraging celibacy as God’s
plan for the non-heterosexual or by advocating transformation to a
non-(ex-?) gay status as God’s will. I am heartened by the words of Maya
Angelou: "Some people who exist sparingly on the mean side of the
hill are threatened by those who also live in the shadows but who
celebrate the light. It seems easier to lie prone than to press against
the law of gravity and raise the body onto its feet and persist in
remaining vertical. There are many incidents which can eviscerate the
stalwart and bring the mighty down. In order to survive, the ample soul
needs refreshments and reminders daily of its right to be and to be
whatever it finds itself." (Wouldn’t Take Nothing for My Journey
Now, 1993, p. 79)
If one looks to the spiritual texts of the world religions and strips
away their cultural conditioning (which included patriarchy and racial and
ethnic separatism), one finds at base a simple message: To live a life of
connection to Spirit and other humans, one must honor the Divine in all
things—the beauty of creation, the diversity of peoples, the equality of
all. Our motivations are more important than our acts themselves: One can
perform an act sanctioned by church and society with the basest of
intentions; or, one can act contrary to law or doctrine with the purest of
hearts. Our integrity is what counts in the Spirit world. Are we acting in
a way that will enhance others? Are we speaking the truth without
blandishment or self-interest? Are we oppressing others by the way we live
or vote or worship?
I am convinced that these are the elements of true Pride— whatever
fosters authenticity, honesty, and good will. May it be so!
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