My Weekend (Protest) Crush

In recent years, given the apparent progress the LGBTQ+ rights movement has been able to make with marriage equality and overall acceptance, it was easy for it to perhaps feel Pride was just one big victory lap. As such, we invited all kinds of groups to the party. Sure, corporations, you can have a float. Go off, Lochheed Martin, with your sassy genocidal missiles! Yasss, queen…

But, as you know, I’ve always said outright that corporations are not our friends. Sure, we can celebrate their actions sometimes as bellweathers. But their only interest is making money, and if they think supporting queers will make them more money they will do that. And when they stop thinking that, like now and how every single company that ended their DEI programs so clearly showed us, they will drop us and all other support for marginalized groups from Black and POC people to women, etc etc etc. like the hottest of potatoes.

But the thing is, we always knew Pride wasn’t just a party. And it’s definitely not a victory lap because we don’t have full equality – and the new administration is doing everything it can to roll back what rights we have won. Make no mistake, trans identity is under a full-scale attack, which means all LGBTQ+ rights are under attack.

You only have to read the headlines (though, please, read the entire articles) to see this is true. From giving active-duty trans troops until June 6 to self-identify and leave the U.S. military to stripping the name of gay rights icon Harvey Milk from a US Navy ship named after him (along with other civil rights leaders including Harriet Tubman, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Dolores Huerta, Cesar Chavez and Thurgood Marshall) we are not welcome in Trump’s America.

Doing that shit during Pride is on purpose. The cruelty, you see, is always the point.

But even more troubling – and don’t get me wrong, every-fucking-thing is troubling – is that these decisions help to embolden those who wish LGBTQ+ people ill. We have seen real, deadly violence against our community. This week former Parks & Rec and King of the Hill actor Jonathan Joss was shot and killed outside of his home. His husband has alleged that the attack was fueled by homophobia and disgust in their relationship. So, cool, they’re just killing gay people out in the open now.

This year, amid the needed frivolity and fun, let’s remember what Pride is really all about. Pride started as a riot, a riot against the police and their discriminatory treatment of LGBTQ+ people. Pride remains a protest because the discriminatory treatment of LGBTQ+ people has not ceased – and instead with this new horrid administration it has increased.

We celebrate Pride so that no one feels alone, in what can often be a lonely world for people who feel different. We celebrate loud and proud so youth, the closeted and any other questioning folks know the possibilities of living your authentic life. We celebrate Pride because we will not be silenced, we will never go back to hiding ourselves.

I hope everyone makes plans to support the June 14 No Kings protests – by attending or supporting their other actions. Truly, we should all be looking for ways to fight back, even in small ways. Because everything counts right now.

What is happening in America right now is the dismantling of every single public good the government provides. All of our lives – gay, straight or whatever – will be affected by the enshitification of our vital services. Cuts to Medicaid means fewer people get needed healthcare. Cuts to NOAA staff means fewer warning about deadly weather events. Cuts to the FDA means more dangerous food can enter our supply, sickening and killing people. Cuts to National Park Service means fewer public places for everyone to enjoy. Cuts (well, the decimation) of USAID means children all over the globe die of preventable diseases. I could go on and on and on and on and on.

In the end, I hope this Pride finds you angry. I hope this Pride finds you furious. And I hope we all take that anger and that fury and channel it into action. Don’t worry, you can still dance your ass off. But just use that energy, use that joy, and do something with it. All of our futures depend on Pride continuing to be a riot. Happy first Pride weekend, all.