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Gay Pride Month: Pro

For nearly 4 decades, June has been recognized around the world - and especially in the US - as Gay Pride Month. In fact, on June 2, 2000, President Clinton even made it semi-official, by proclaiming Gay Pride Month to be one of the US's handful of National Heritage Months, along with Black History Month and Irish American Heritage Month.

When the former of these was first instituted in 1976, many critics questioned it's value, and some wondered, "Why, then, shouldn't we have a White History Month?" The answer to that question was, and still remains, a lucid insight on American cultural politics: we already have a White History Month - it's every month other than February.

Without the special emphasis and recognition they receive on their respective holidays, weeks, and months, the marginalized groups in American society would likely get no emphasis or recognition at all.

Understandably, some would then be prompted to ask why a lack of recognition for these groups is a problem in the first place. But such a question displays an ignorance of history. It is not happenstance that Gay Pride Month falls in June. June was the month, in 1969, of the Stonewall riots in New York City, when gay and lesbian patrons of Greenwich village bars finally fought back against NYPD harassment that included warrantless raids, police brutality, and unlawful arrests. The police even recorded the names of those present during the raids, but not arrested, specifically in order to send them to newspapers for publication.

Despite a great deal of progress, the prejudices and homophobic sentiments that gave rise to such behaviors on the part of the New York City police are still very much present in our country today. In fact, nearly 16 percent of hate crimes in the US are based on sexual orientation, well beyond the demographic proportion of gays and lesbians in America. Gay Pride Month, and other Heritage Months like it, are not only important to the communities they celebrate, but to American society as a whole. This must have been on President Clinton's mind when he stated, in his 2000 proclamation, that "America's greatest strength is it's diversity."

Gay Pride Month: Con

When the months of the year were divvying up the national holidays between them, June must have drawn the shortest straw. Among other things, June is National Safety Month, National Dairy Month, and National People Skills Month. The most inane of these month-long celebrations, however, has to be Gay Pride Month.

Don't get me wrong - I have nothing against gays or lesbians, and if they want to dress in flamenco bikinis and Village People outfits and have a parade, more power to them. But I can't help but notice the absurdity of devoting an entire month to how proud you are of what you do "between the sheets".

The concept of a Gay Pride Month begs the question "Exactly what is going on in the bedrooms of homosexuals in the United States?" Apparently it's something so incredibly amazing that it takes 30 days to truly appreciate it! I, too, have been proud of some rather choice performances in the past, but usually this sentiment only lasts as long as the subsequent cigarette. And doesn't it seem strange to anyone that our country's Memorial Day is followed by a Gay Pride Month? I can only assume that this is because the strength of character needed to storm the beach at Normandy pales in comparison to that required to hit the clubs in Castro. Even Jesus only gets two days every year, and they say that guy walked on water! Maybe Gay Pride Month is about celebrating the homosexual community, and not necessarily their sexual proclivities. But this makes even less sense. Sure, there are thousands of successful, important public figures who happen to be homosexual, but so what? And what does that have anything to do with any other gay person? I can only imagine coming up to some famous, influential man or woman that I really admire and saying, "Hey, I hear you're a heterosexual. Me too!"

Maybe homosexuals have to pass some sort of grueling Navy SEAL-type training in order to get accepted into the club, but that aside, I don't understand why being gay or lesbian should be considered such a distinction, and I don't see why an entire month should be devoted to them.

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