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Tuesday, June 14, 2011

The Gayest Day of the Year

Keeping It Queer
By Erica Chu

The Gayest Day of the Year

Sunday is the gayest day of the gayest month of the year. In Chicago, the parade’s official name is the Chicago Annual Pride Parade, but it’s also commonly called the LGBT Pride Parade, PRIDEChicago, and most famously the Gay Pride Parade—and these are just the terms used by parade organizers.

Perhaps you’re reading this on Sunday while comfortably sitting in a lawn chair, beer in hand, staking out the best place for watching the parade. It can’t get any better than this, right? Well, if you’re gay, it is pretty sweet. But what if you are a member of the LGBTQ community but not in fact gay? What does the gayest day of the year mean to you? Well, look no further for a bit of feedback because I’m not gay. I am, however, queer and genderqueer, which I suppose gives me double membership in the LGBTQ community because I’m both a sexual and gender variant. I of course can’t speak for all nongay LGBTQs, but I can tell you that every time I hear “gay pride,” I feel a bit untrusting. Yes, yes, I am all for gays, and I’m all for pride, rights, recognition, fun, and a movement for gay people, but most of the time, the “gay” in phrases like “gay pride” is used as an approximation for all LGBTQ people. As a nongay LGBTQ person, that makes me feel like I’m invisible, or rather that people refuse to see me.

As simple as it may seem, the fact is we’re not all gay, and what makes someone like me different from a gay person is as important to my sense of self as what makes a gay person different from a straight person. We are all human, but even for those of us who experience same-sex attraction and share in common a desire for recognition in a world that devalues us, words like “gay,” “bisexual,” “pansexual,” and “queer” have four very different meanings and consequently represent four very different communities and kinds of identities.

If you’re gay, I imagine you get frustrated when a social or political group you belong to assumes everyone is straight. You may want to yell out, “Hey, I’m here, and I’m gay!” You may well get angry and remind everyone that this group is for you too, and you’re not straight and don’t have to be. Well, we nongay LGBTQs feel similarly. The LGBTQ community is supposedly our social and political group, but often gays just expect us to celebrate their gayness and ignore our own needs and identities.

For gender variant people such as trans and genderqueer folks, “gay pride” can be even more frustrating. There is a whole host of issues related to gender identity that goes completely unnoticed by many supposedly LGBT organizations, and even some organizations that work on trans issues operate in such a way that issues related to sexual orientation always trump those of gender identity. I often hear complaints that trans people are tokenized, meaning organizations and campaigns primarily interested in benefiting gays will claim that they help trans people even though doing so is just an afterthought. Such organizations advertise their connection to trans people as a way of making their work seem progressive and inclusive even if they’re working exclusively for the benefit of gays.

Pride Month and Pride Week can be frustrating for nongay LGBTQs because their invisibility is made even more obvious. Though the parade has many marchers and floats dedicated to quite a few bisexual, queer, and trans causes, we nongay LGBTQs often feel like the tokenized guests at someone else’s party.

In addition to the matter of non-gay LGBTQ invisibility, recent manifestations of Pride Month and Pride Week also represent a major change in what was once a project focused on minority rights, political organizing, coalition building, and visibility. When the Chicago Pride Parade first began, the purpose was overwhelmingly political. The Chicago Dyke March Collective builds upon that tradition, but sadly Chicago Pride has been depoliticized and become all about partying, corporate sponsorship, advertising, and profits. There is of course an attitude of celebration, which is a much-needed political tool, but Pride has definitely lost its intense political edge.

The gayest day of all the year is unfortunately not as wonderful as we may have imagined it was. Not only does it highlight the invisibility experienced by a large non-gay segment of our community, the commercialization of Chicago Pride distracts from the radical political work that Pride was founded in. This year, I encourage you to sit back and enjoy the parade, but once it’s over, get up, take a critical look at all the revelers, the signs, and the trash left in the parade’s wake. Leave motivated to start educating yourself about what needs to change, and join in the work of helping the gay community refocus its energies on being more inclusive and more radically political.


Erica Chu is a student at Loyola University Chicago and is seeking a PhD in English with a concentration in Women Studies and Gender Studies. They manage the blog keepingitqueer.blogspot.com and can be reached at ericachu@msn.com.

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