As New Yorkers and visitors from around the world prepare to celebrate Pride this weekend I came across this video on Towleroad produced by the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center in NYC. It features footage of the very first Pride parade, or march as those who participated rightly call it, on Christopher Street Liberation Day back in 1970 after the Stonewall riots of the previous year.
We talk a lot about the relevance of Pride in today’s world but this excerpt from Dudley Clendinen and Adam Nagourney’s book Out for Good: The Struggle to Build a Gay Rights Movement in America (again featured on Towleroad) provides a poignant reminder of how important those first marches were and how it’s worth remembering what they were about back then.
"Many of the men and women who marched that day would forever remember that moment on top of the bluff. Before them lay a field of uncut grass, a blizzard of banners, dancing, pot-smoking, singing and music, a huge American flag, ‘gay pride’ signs decorated with the Day-Glo hippie flower stickers, and men and women applauding each new arrival over the hill. And behind them—stretching out as far as they could see—was line after line after line of homosexuals and their supporters, at least fifteen blocks worth, by the count of the New York Times, which found the turnout notable enough to report it on the front page of the next day’s paper. No one had ever seen so many homosexuals in one place before. On top of the bluff, many of these men and women, who had grown up isolated and alone, stood in silence and cried."
I am one of those who has become cynical about whether Pride means much nowadays to most people who take part but this reminds of how much they meant just a few decades ago. It should also focus our attention on the marches (not parades or parties) that are taking place in Eastern Europe and elsewhere where coming out on the streets and being openly gay really does mean something and really does take some courage.
This is a powerful and moving video which shows how much Pride really can mean to those who are involved. It’s an effective communications effort on the part of the LGBT Community Center to provide today’s generation with a timely reminder of how lucky they are and to draw attention to the work of the organization.
For the full 30 minute documentary go to the LGBT Community Center Web site: http://gaycenter.org/out
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