Pride Is Under Threat. What Does That Mean for You This Year?
My Act Up Days Show Me Queer Pride Can Look Both Backwards and Ahead
Milk, Twinkies, and Pride
Anti-Queer rhetoric, discrimination, and violence are still very real. Eighteen states and 5 US territories have no explicit prohibitions against discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity in state law. There are many countries in which you can be executed (legally or extra-legally) for being Queer.
Despite that (or perhaps because of it) today’s Baby Queers have the ability to stand on the shoulders of generations of giants, and they have the ability to be part of the public discourse. Instead of hearing anti-Queer rhetoric and quietly hoping that no one else in a position of power, authority, or public prominence repeats it, today they hope that someone will dispute it.
Instead of cringing when an actor or politician says something completely homophobic, they can stand tall and speak out. They don’t live in a world where it’s hard to find someone who came before them. There are archives, and community centers, and Queer collections in libraries, and the internet where they can access their history and know that, regardless of what society says about them, are part of a long tradition of…
