IS THERE REALLY A NEED FOR GAY PRIDE PARADES???

As we head into the month of June – many countries around the world are gearing up for their Gay Pride celebrations, events and parades.  The LGBT (lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, trans-gendered) community has a lot to celebrate same-sex couples are able to marry in more countries around the world, gay athletes (especially males) are breaking down the stereotypes in the world of professional sports and each day, more people are letting go of their biased notions of what is to be gay.  Saying this – there is still many people who are threatened by homosexuality.  These people will do anything to block any rights for the LGBT community – they don’t want homosexuals to marry, they don’t want gays and lesbians to be protected against discrimination in the workplace, they don’t want their children exposed to LGBT youth, they oppose gays in the military to serve openly, they detest that young gay boys be allowed into the boy scouts – in fact, they don’t want gays and lesbians to live their authentic lives openly because of their own discomfort and prejudices.  Most people have these prejudices because of their strict religious beliefs (which is a completely different topic in itself).

Many heterosexuals and homosexuals believe that the parade is about people exposing themselves to the world, a big drug and alcoholic sex orgy of people flaunting their sexuality.  People have said such things about Gay Pride parades “we don’t have a straight pride, so why should they have gay pride”, “I don’t want my kids to see this kind of promiscuity”, “why should they have a sex parade?” and other comments of this nature.  So – do we really need to have Gay Pride parades and celebrations around the world?  ABSOLUTELY!  Here is why:

• 1965, Everett Klippert acknowledges to police that he is gay, has had sex with men over a 24-year period, and is unlikely to change.  In 1967, Klippert is sent to prison indefinitely as a “dangerous sex offender,” a sentence which was backed up by the Supreme Court of Canada that same year.
• Justice Minister Pierre Trudeau amendments to the Criminal Code which, among other things, would relax the laws against homosexuality.
• Trudeau’s amendments to the Criminal Code pass, decriminalizing homosexuality in Canada
• homosexuality isn’t something that reared its head in the 20th century – gays, lesbians, bisexual, transgendered people have been with since the dawn of humanity.
• The Stonewall riots (New York, 1969) transform the gay rights movement into a widespread protest for equal rights and acceptance.  Patrons of a gay bar in New York’s Greenwich Village, the Stonewall Inn, fight back during a police raid on June 27, sparking three days of riots.
• 1971, Everett Klippert is released
• 1973, The American Psychiatric Association removes homosexuality from its official list of mental disorders.
• 1977, Quebec, Canada includes sexual orientation in its Human Rights Code, making it the first province in Canada to pass a gay civil rights law.
• Harvey Milk is appointed to the Board of Permit Appeals by San Francisco Mayor George Moscone – he becomes first openly gay city commissioner in the United States.
• January 8, 1978 – Harvey Milk is sworn in as member of the San Fransisco Board of Supervisors.  He ran against 16 other candidates , he wins the election by 30% .  Milk begins his term by sponsoring a civil rights bill that outlaws sexual orientation discrimination.  Only one supervisor votes against it and Mayor Mascone signs it into law.
• November 27, 1978, Harvey Milk and Mayor George Mascone are assassinated by Dan White, another San Fransisco city supervisor.
• 1978, Canada gets a new Immigration Act.  Under the act, being a homosexual is removed from the list of inadmissible classes.
• 1979 – 75,000 people participated in the National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights in Washington D.C., in October.  It was the largest political gathering in support of LGBT rights to date.
• 1980 – The Democratic National Convention held at New York’s Madison Square Garden, Democrats took a stance supporting gay rights adding the following to their plank:  “All groups must be protected from discrimination based on race, color, religion, national origin, language, age, sex or sexual orientation.
• 1981, More than 300 men are arrested following police raids at four gay bath houses in Toronto, the largest mass arrest since the War Measures Act was invoked during the October Crisis.  The next night, about 3,000 people march in downtown Toronto to protest the arrests.  This is considered to be Canada’s Stonewall.
• 1982, Wisconsin becomes the first state to outlaw discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.
• 1984, The city of Berkeley, California becomes the first city to offer its employees domestic-partnership benefits.
• 1988, Sven Robinson, of the New Democratic Party, goes public about being gay, becoming the first Member of Parliament to do so.
• Delwin Vriend, a lab instructor at King’s University College in Edmonton, Alberta, is fired from his job because he is gay.  The Alberta Human Rights Commission refuses to investigate the case because discrimination based on sexual orientation isn’t covered by the Alberta Individual Rights Protection Act.  Vriend takes the government of Alberta to court and, in 1994, the court rules that sexual orientation must be added to the act.  The government wins on appeal in 1996 and the decision is overturned.  In 1997, the case went to the Supreme Court of Canada and on April 2, 1998 the high court unanimously ruled that the exclusion of homosexuals from the province’s Individual Rights Protection Act violates the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.  The Supreme Court said that effective immediately the act would be interpreted to include homosexuals even if the province doesn’t change it.  The Alberta government chose to use the notwithstanding clause despite pressure from conservative and religious groups.
• In 1992, The federal court lifts the country’s ban on homosexuals in the military, allowing gays and lesbians to serve in the armed forces.
• 1993, The “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy is instituted for the U.S. military, permitting gays to serve in the military but banning homosexual activity.
• 1995, The Supreme Court of Canada rules on the case involving Jim Egan and Jack Nesbit, two gay men who sued Ottawa for the right to claim spousal pension under the Old Age Security Act.  The Court ruled against Egan and Nesbit.  However, all nine judges agreed that sexual orientation is a protected ground and that the protection extends to partnerships of lesbians and gay men.
•  1995, a Ontario (Canada) Court judge finds that the Child and Family Services Act of Ontario infringes section 15 of the Charter by not allowing same-sex couples to bring a joint application for adoption.  He rules that four lesbians have the right to adopt their partner’s children.  Ontario becomes the first province to make it legal for same-sex couples to adopt.  British Columbia, Alberta and Nova Scotia followed suit, also allowing adoption by same-sex couples. 
• 1996, The Canadian federal government passes Bill C-33 which adds “sexual orientation” to the Canadian Human Rights Act.
• 1999, The Supreme Court of Canada rules same-sex couples should have the same benefits and obligations as opposite-sex common-law couples and equal access to benefits from social programs to which they contribute.
• 1999, Attorney General Jim Flaherty introduces Bill 5 in the Ontario (Canada) Legislature, an act to amend certain statutes because of a Supreme Court of Canada decision.  Instead of changing the province’s definition of spouse, which the Supreme Court essentially struck down, the government creates a new same-sex category, changing the province’s Family Law Act to read “spouse or same-sex partner” wherever it had read only “spouse” before.  Bill 5 also amends more than 60 other provincial laws, making the rights and responsibilities of same-sex couples mirror those of common-law couples.
• 2000, Vermont (USA) becomes the first state in the country to legally recognize civil unions between gay and lesbian couples.
• 2004, Same-sex marriage becomes legal in Massachusetts (USA)
• 2005, Canada becomes the 4th country to allow same-sex marriage (the first outside of Europe).  Although same-sex marriage was legal in Ontario and British Columbia (2003), Quebec, Yukon, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, Saskatchewan, Newfoundland and Labrador (2004) and New Brunswick (2005) – Civil Marriage Act, Alberta, Prince Edward Island, Nunavut and the Northwest Territory (2005). 
• 2011, New York becomes the largest US State to allow same-sex couples to marry.  The vote comes on the eve of the city’s annual Gay Pride Parade and gives new momentum to the national gay-rights movement.

I find it astounding how – like the civil rights movement – that this type of discrimination against a country’s people was even debated to ensure all were treated equally under the law.  How is it that we needed to debate that people of color should be allowed into the same public space as white people – I find it outrageous and appalling that it took people so long to realize that this was wrong in every sense of the word.  The gay rights movement is a movement to ensure that gays, lesbians, bisexual and trans-gendered people are treated equally and protected under the law.  We are not perverts or sexual molesters.  We are not any more promiscuous than those of the heterosexual preference.  We don’t have a ‘gay agenda’ just like heterosexuals don’t have a ‘straight agenda’…..the hate, bias, prejudice and violence only begins when you add religion into the equation.

Pride Parades – may not have the same ‘grass-roots’ message as it did 40 years ago and has become a huge opportunity for corporations to advertise their products, despite this and the media focusing their reports on scantily clad men and women, the parade and the message the LGBT community is trying to convey is that we are just like you.  I don’t hear people protesting the Mardi Gras parade in New Orleans or Caribana in Ontario or Carnival in Rio de Janeiro, why?  Is it because those events are celebrations that are inclusive to all (mainly heterosexuals)?

In a world where 76 countries ban gay sex and 7 have a death penalty (as of June 2010) – Why is it that people still feel so strongly against those who want to celebrate their diversity without any fear of violence or death?  (In most countries).  Uganda held its first Gay Pride Parade recently even though the country has made it clear that they have no tolerance for homosexuality (remember the KILL THE GAYS bill?).  To me – this is the fundamental reasons for Gay Pride celebrations around the world.  France – recently favoured same-sex marriage, yet crimes against the LGBT community have increased.  Russia has insisted they will not tolerate gay propaganda and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has stated that he is opposed to same-sex marriage and will not be influenced by those countries who support it – this has also caused an increase in violence against LGBT people in Russia.

So again, I ask you, is there a need for Gay Pride Celebrations around the world.  I believe so.  History has shown that oppression was never the right route – because when you oppress people they will rise and in the long run, they will win!

Together, we can make the world a more positive one!