"Why We Have Pride"

As I spoke to a few of my heterosexual friends about my participation in the recent Capital Pride festival, those who weren't fixated on the parade (the images of exhibitionists they usually see on television) would ask me something like, "Why do they have to have a special day just because their gay?" They were not mean spirited questions, just ones showing a lack of understanding.

This essay by Dan Furmansky, Executive Director of Equality Maryland, explains it in detail with facts, different perspectives, and most of all passion.

.....speaking to religious groups the past few weeks and contemplating why we hold Pride festivities has reminded me what a deeply meaningful, deeply spiritual event in our lives Pride can be.

Pride is a day for LGBT people and those who care about social justice to recall where we've been as a people. Many of us know of the origins of Pride at Stonewall in NYC in the late 1960s, when drag queens and gay men fought back against police harassment and brutality and said, resoundingly, E-N-O-U-G-H. With this rebellion as its backdrop, Pride has emerged as a holiday of liberation, redemption, salvation, starvation, pain, celebration, progress and resolve. It's a holiday where we as a people celebrate where we have been and where we hope to go.

This is why we have Pride

LGBT people being labeled insane by the psychiatric community until the 1970s. Gay men and lesbians could be institutionalized and subjected to "therapies." These ranged from the comparatively less invasive – such as psychotherapy and hypnosis – to the more severe, such as aversion therapy, castration, hysterectomies, lobotomies, electroshock treatment, and the administration of untested drugs.

Just take a moment to digest this information: They cut our brains.

This is why we have Pride.

There is plenty more in Furmansky's piece. If you really want to know what Pride is about, read his entire essay.