The Politics of Pride
Not pride in general but the Pride Parade. I thought it would be a good idea to wrap up Pride Week with a look at how far we’ve come.
For the first time this year members of the Canadian Military Forces were able to walk in the Parade. It’s an interesting symbol in a world where many of the LGBT community are the victims at the hands of their government’s policing. For the past three years gays and lesbians have been able to live in Canada with relative equality in this country and the celebration of “Pride” has become more, and more, mainstream.
In addition to the Canadian Military participating the political parties were out in full force as well. I received invitations from several different political parties to attend their various events centered around Pride Week, from good ol’ “Help us get the party message out” to “Hey, join us for our fashion/strip show.” It was all quite interesting to watch some of these political parties to drop some of the politically correct rhetoric to connect with people during Pride.
Add to that the amount of tourism that Pride Week brings in and it’s hard to believe that it’s not mainstream, it has even faced complaints of even being too commercial. Then you realize of course that ten years ago it was a completely different landscape. The idea of equality was far off and even public groups that supported equal rights still weren’t willing to step into the ‘outlandish’ fray that was Pride Week and the Pride Parade.
I think it’s time to just step back, while realizing that there is much to be done for LGBT right around the world, that there has also been a great deal of progress and accomplishment.
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