Matthew Bakko, Shannon Bacon: That’s Why They Call It PRIDE

To the Editor:
Shame, shame, shame. Neil G. Schloesser’s letter on pride parades in the July 22nd issue of HPR was dripping with it. Neil writes how we need to reveal the face of bigotry and sell ourselves to straight people during Pride in a respectable manner, free of such scary things as men in Speedos. We weren’t aware that the point of Pride is to increase our sexual shame, rather than work to decrease it.

The purpose of Pride is not only to “publicize ourselves, our cause, and our plight.” It is also a historical event that creates a necessary space for the LGBTQ community and allies to step apart from “normal” (read straight) society and celebrate our unique culture, history, and different-ness. If that means some sissy boy wants to paint his nearly naked body in glitter and prance, or some butch wants to show off by making out with her femme girl in public, the more the better! And let’s not forget that not everyone (read transgender) in the community has the privilege to hide their otherness so easily, even on a daily basis.

It is neither inclusive nor just to turn the one community-wide LGBTQ event of the year into a privilege party that “normalizes” us and caters to straight people. If we forget that sexual and gender freedom is a central part of the LGBTQ cause, we have lost already. Without incorporating all our wonderful sexual and gender deviance into Pride we are essentially dehumanizing ourselves and diminishing the full richness of our wonderfully different community.
Pride should be an event that celebrates all our uniqueness, not just those parts of us that can be advertised to the straight community without making them uncomfortable. We don’t want to be pulled apart like that, not for straight people, not ever again.

We agree that the face of bigotry needs to be exposed, but business model tactics such as Neil’s are a result of bigotry and oppression, not an answer to it.
-Matthew Bakko
-Shannon Bacon
Moorhead