Being PROUD @ 5,280′ OR Doing PRIDE (in Denver)
I want to write about my experience today at Denver’s Pride fest. Let me warn you, though, I am NOT a good gay person. I find most Pride fests to be oriented toward male identified persons and the discourse of the politics of equality overshadowing the GAYS. So, the following is my reflection on attending Denver’s Pride thing. Read at your own risk.
I have been to a fair share of PRIDE fests, mostly in the Midwest (specifically Chicago). I have done a fair amount of reading about LGBT(Q) movements, and have tried to keep up on the Gay raids.
Today was my first PRIDE fest in Denver. I tend to spend a lot of time thinking about the intersection of politics and bodies, theories and practices. I have also spent a fair amount of time thinking about bodies and space, too. This question first became apparent to me while living in Chicago, first in the form of race, class, gender, ethnicity questions, and then came questions concerning sexuality. Once I integrated these “categories” of identities/identifications, I began to think more holistically about bodies. The month of June was a great time to reflect on this question: what does it mean for certain bodies to be in certain spaces/places?
The month of June is Pride month and there are a variety of Pride festivals occurring throughout the month with parades, festivals, concerts, you name it! And, as I have observed (at least in Chicago), it was mostly straight white females (mostly from the suburbs) who came out for Chicago’s Pride Parade and festivals (like Halsted Market Days). Why are these bodies in this certain spaces? I always had this question. I also wondered about why Chicago’s Pride Parade consisted mostly of Gay men? Gay White Men. Why did this body dominate the space of Pride? Sure, there were men of color, but they mostly were the exotic men dancing on floats, and not the men who displayed power. That was reserved for the White men. White Gay Men.
Today was Denver’s Pride Fest, and it was my first Pride in Denver. I was reluctant to go for many reasons, and in fact only decided this morning to attend the Queer brunch (which was SUPER good) and then after some coaxing decided to see what the fest was all about. I wanted to people watch, observe, and see what all and who all came for Denver’s Pride. I was not surprised. While it was tamer than any of Chicago’s Pride stuff, it was (to me) a time to mimic heteronormativity. The Gays came out in droves, brought their children (by the way when did it become cool for lesbians and gays to have kids?), and all their straight friends. It did not feel queer to me, or non-normative to me. Said differently, it did not feel political.
The Lesbian and Gay movement has a history of being political. What happened to that? Why is the current spokes-person(s) for the L/G movement the Human Rights Campaign? Why Equality? Why is that discourse the overwhelming discourse within the LGBT(Q) communities. In fairness, I should probably bracket both the T and the Q, since we all know that many within the LGB movement have had a hard time incorporating the non-normativity of the T and the Q. And, where exactly was the queer community today? I saw many of my queer friends (they all stopped by the booth I was table-ing), but I was left wondering where are the Queer politics of PRIDE? Is there any room for politics in Pride stuff? Should it remain apolitical (thanks KH for that language)? And, can Pride be a compelling space/place for bodies who are critically engaged and political? What should I do with my queermestizo (brownish) body during Pride festivals? Attend? Or, not?
Pride has to be something more than people watching. Pride, in order for it to garner some attention from the “other”–from the dominant sector, must revive a political base. I think the first step is reconsidering the rhetoric/discourse of equality. Quit trying to “legalize GAY” and in effect re-invent heteronormativity for same-gendered or queer couples. Create space for the fluidity and non-normativity of gender, sexuality, and identifying practices. Let Pride become a place of non-normativity, and not simply a place for EVERYONE. Not everyone belongs at Pride. I do not think I belong at Pride, and I do not know if my closest amig@ belongs at pride, because I do not know if there is space for us.
Happy Pride, y’all!
The end.
1 Comment
Leave a Reply
FireStats
- Pages displayed : 8093
- Unique visitors : 3010
- Pages displayed in last 24 hours : 77
- Unique visitors in last 24 hours : 51
Powered by FireStatsNetWorked Blogs
Popular posts
- Being PROUD @ 5,280′ OR Doing PRIDE (in Denver)
- Human Rights Campaign day 2: gender, pronouns, scholarship, conversations, life
- On Be-ing and sitting w/ a Dalyan scholar
- Mary Daly: a life lived OUT loud
- in the beginning was chemo/radiation
- Second Time Around
- New Jersey’s for Hispanics y más
- I am Joaquin/Yo Soy Joaquin
- Hispanic Theological Initiative, day 1
- Bound for Nashville, TN: HRC Summer Institute for LGBT(Q) Studies
Powered by FireStats
iRobyn rss- Tour de Fat September 4, 2010This is a short video as we get ready to start the bike parade in Ft. Collins for Tour de Fat. Enjoy this little short video! […]Robyn
- Vlogging and Blogging September 4, 2010Thanks so much for reading the iRobyn site for so many years! Every few years, there’s been a change. Either with theme or content or both! Now, as 2010 rounds out, there’s going to be some (r)evolution come to the iRobyn site! Video blogging! I am really looking forward to incorporating the video element to […]Robyn
- Pre-San Francisco (test) Vlog September 3, 2010So, I’m trying my hand at Vloging. This is a short clip that I did w/ Milan, my iPhone! I am hoping to do some vloging while in San Francisco next week. Like on the streets and whatnot! Brilliant, right?! […]Robyn
- Homophobia September 3, 2010Unfortunately, we live in a world of hate. And, sometimes that hatred, whether we recognize it as such or not, lives close to us. This is my response to your hatred! I think what disturbs me most is that you’re teaching your kid to hate. All this under the guise of religion, God–Christianity! And, that […]Robyn
- Quit stalling, Quiznos! Farmworkers’ Human Rights Now! September 2, 2010Quit stalling, Quiznos! Farmworkers’ Human Rights Now! Protest & Rally in solidarity with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers Friday, October 15, 11:30 -1:00pm outside Quiznos corporate headquarters – 1001 17th St. (17th & Curtis, downtown Denver) In May, Quiznos promised that it would soon be joining in agreement with the Coalition of Immokalee Worke […]Robyn
- On turning 34: having a life full of love; being compelled to live September 1, 2010I turned 34 in Nashville, TN with a group of LGBTQ folks. It was the next to last day of this event, and I already had a tremendous summer. Now, with some new super cool friends, I was rounding out the month of July (my birthday is 7/30) in style: super queer and swanky–all in […]Robyn
- Traversing el Río: Performing The/My (In)visible Mestizaje Body August 29, 2010The following is posted on the PostColonial Networks site as their “launch” post. If you are interested in this style of academic writing, contact the editors! They are currently looking for additional posts! A borderland is a vague and undetermined place created by the emotional residue of an unnatural boundary. It is in a constant […]Robyn
- Packing up Books became a Sacred moment for me August 28, 2010Yesterday was a difficult day. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. I had coffee with a friend, finalized a conference paper, ran some errands, and then was home for the day. I finally decided to wrap up in my favorite blanket and take a nap. I was hoping that this would help ameliorate […]Robyn
- “To Live in the Borderlands Means You” August 25, 2010To live in the Borderlands means you are neither hispana india negra espanola ni gabacha, eres mestiza, mulata, half-breed caught in the crossfire between camps while carrying all five races on your back not knowing which side to turn to, run from; To live in the Borderlands means knowing that the india in you, betrayed […]Robyn
- Connecting the dots August 24, 2010It is late in the afternoon on a sunny Denver day. I woke to rain and cloudy skies. There was even a fall chill in the air. As the day dawned, the rain clouds lifted and the sun began to shine. Now, as I sit and type in my living room, the sun is brightly […]Robyn
- Tour de Fat September 4, 2010
FireStats
- 54 readers
Powered by FireStats
You ask some really important questions, R. And I am pretty much with you. The Pride celebrations I/we attended in Tucson and Portland seemed much less “normative” than Denver; I don’t know if that’s a function of culture (for lack of a better word) or of time — time in the sense that over time the movement has been bought out by corporate america. Has the movement arrived because a multi-national bank will put a rainbow on its checks and everything is sponsored by Coors Light? I’m not interested in that. Like you, I’m interested in challenging heteronormative patriarchy, and that is hard to see at pride when everything gets boiled down to what i can buy with my gay dollar that will make me look just like the straight world, but with a cute rainbow sticker.