Pride goes mainstream

As a (somewhat) older gay man, I'm having a bit of trouble wrapping my head around corporate endorsement and promotion of Pride month. I'll say upfront that overall I think it's a good thing, but it still feels a little weird. 

Lately I've been watching old episodes of "Queer as Folk" on Prime and it takes me back to the gay world of many years ago. Stonewall was our Boston Tea Party, and we fought through the AIDS crisis with slogans like "Silence = Death," determined that we were never going back to the way things had been. Pride events from those days were mostly about building our own sense of community, a feeling of belonging, and a sense of security. For those who felt excluded, it was comforting and empowering even. We saw each other in the light of day and realized we were not alone. 

Of course another purpose of Pride events was to open eyes, hearts, and minds in the straight world. It's harder to fear and hate a group of people once you learn that someone you know is a member of that group. Many christians still manage to do so, but for normal, thinking people, it makes it hard. Pride events were a collective coming out of the closet to show our presence in our communities without fear, at least where it was somewhat safe to do so, and sometimes where it wasn't. 

Enough people came out of the closet over the past 30-40 years that even corporate America figured out that it was in their own best interest to adopt non-discrimination policies if they wanted to attract and retain an educated workforce. And it wasn't just gay people coming out that did it, it was straight people who didn't want to be affiliated with institutionalized bigotry. For many it was because they woke up to the fact that they had LGBTQ+ friends and family, but for others it was just because they were decent human beings. While religious-based bigotry is still the policy of the GOP and a fundamental tenet of certain corporations, there are far more these days that embrace inclusion and non-discrimination. There will always be your odd bigoted wedding cake baker, but they are effectively dealt with by social media exposure and negative Yelp reviews. 

I'm also happy to see that Pride itself has become more inclusive. At one time it was pretty much limited to gay men and lesbians, based on the fear that including smaller queer communities would be a bridge too far for straight America and would hurt rather than help the struggle for acceptance. But the younger generation that pushed for marriage equality has also pushed for broader inclusion of the full alphabet mafia, to the point that "LGBTQ+" is no longer the tongue twister it used to be for many.

Still, it feels a little strange to me to walk into Starbucks, Target, or even Walmart and see rainbow streamers and a Pride flag. Maybe I'm cynical, but are they trying to turn the month of June into a retail event? I'm sure Hallmark is all over it already. I guess I could get used to "Happy Pride" wishes from store clerks, and it will make a good reply to "have a blessed day." I even suppose that "Buy a queer a gift day" wouldn't be such a bad thing if it could help the retail world get through till Christmas. I could pull together an Amazon Wish List with just a little notice.

Della's cookies and cream complexion shows off the pride colors very well.

This rainbow bandana is one of the things that got me thinking about all this.

It came in a box of beers that Clay received as part of a virtual beer fest sponsored by Untapped featuring gay brewers across the country or specially brewed beers that would benefit LGBTQ+ causes. Sam Adams threw in the rainbow colored bandana that I had on Della for today's walk.

Maybe "buy a queer a beer" would be a good Pride month slogan.