Gay Pride worldwide
Gay pride
or LGBT pride is the positive stance against discrimination and
violence toward lesbian, gay, bisexual, and
transgender (LGBT) people to promote their self-affirmation,
dignity, equality rights, increase their visibility as a social group,
build community, and celebrate sexual diversity
and gender variance.
On June 28, 1969 the police raided the
Stonewall a gay bar in NYC which provoked the first series of gay riots.
A year
later the first commemorations of the first gay riot took place in NYC, then in San
Francisco and Los Angeles.
In Europe,
the first parade supporting the Gay Pride took place in Munster in Germany on
April 29, 1972. That’s when the Gay Pride started to become a global cultural
event.
In the United
States and in Western Europe, it was considered as an opportunity for a
minority to express themselves because they felt oppressed. At that time
homosexuality was considered an illness.
A lot of
countries waited for homosexuality to be accepted before starting Gay Prides. In
fact, they started parades like Gay Pride when homosexuality was already much
more generalized. The purpose was then to fight for equality of rights and
against homophobia.
Nowadays,
the Gay Pride is a world-wide event. The parades' organization are quite similar all around the world even though every country has its specificities.
At the
front you’ll see officials (for example Gerard Collomb in Lyon), organizers, associations…
Behind them are demonstrators often gathered in chariots. The chariots play all kinds of music, people wear colorful clothes, wave flags : Gay Prides are truely multi-cultural events with dances, costumes and music from all parts of the world.
There also
are regularly other events organized around Gay Prides, like parties or
concerts, which make them international and global events : for example, in 2011, in Rome Lady Gaga (american star) organized a concert to end the Europride; Global Deejays (an Austrian group) played in 2012 in Marseille.
All the Gay
Prides worldwide are coordinated by the InterPride, an international association founded in 1982 in
Boston: on their website you can find all the events taking place all over the
world.
Gay Pride isn’t really a daily topic. In fact, I had already heard about Gay Pride but didn’t really know what it meant before reading Myriam’s post! I think that it’s a very interesting subject. In fact, there are a lot of people that celebrate gay pride nowadays. However, I’m not really sure that everybody really knows the purpose behind the event. According to me, that’s the sad part of it.
ReplyDeleteA lot of people go to these Gay Pride events that take place all over the world, but sometimes people go to party without being aware of why this event is happening. Therefore, they miss the point of the event.
Maybe Myriam should have been more clear about that.
Moreover, I didn’t know celebrities were involved in that cause. I’m not surprised that some celebrities are, but I think it was a good idea for her to mention it.
Finally, I think Myriam’s article makes good points to our class discussion. First because we never talked about this subject but also because it shows us a new aspect of global culture.
In fact, Gay Pride is a global cultural event, even though Gay Pride isn’t celebrated in every country. That proves that even if global culture is worldwide, there are inequalities in it.
Thanks a lot for this article, I really enjoyed reading you!!