Gay Pride vs Good Ol’ Gay Liberation
The Term “Pride” Stuck
But “Liberation” is Where It’s At
Demian
© June 22, 2019, Demian
I never liked the “Pride” part of “Gay Pride.” It felt conceited, and the very thing that “cometh before the fall.”
Since the majority culture, during the 60s, already saw gay men, lesbians, and bisexuals as fallen, and maybe not even human beings, there was not much sense setting ourselves up for a fall.
The term that held my attention was “Gay Liberation.” This term came on the heels of the Black Liberation and Woman’s Liberation movements.
I like the implications of “Gay Liberation,” because we were an oppressed class, and needed to be free. Also, the liberation needed was internal, as well as external.
The gay population as a group, had such a terrible view of itself. Probably due to internalized oppression, our people were far more likely to be addicted to tobacco, alcohol, drugs, and obsessive behaviors, than the general population.
We need liberation, and cannot wait the 40 years, like the Hebrews out of Egypt, to overthrow the mindset of slavery.
We need Gay Liberation, not pride, to break through to the beauty of gay love we experience inside.
Gay Liberation is a form of self-love, which has a potency so strong, it can heal us from the damage done to us by hate groups and social institutions. So strong, it can alter the way others experience us. It can bring out the best in us, and thereby change the world.
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