June 24-25, 2006 is St. Louis' Gay Pride Celebration in Tower Grove Park on South Grand. Pride is St. Louis has struggled for the last few years with headline making scandals, controversial scholarship programs, and debates about what Pride is and what a Pride festival should be. Last year's Pridefest was marred by low attendance, internal fights between members, and the award of a controversial scholarship. Looking ahead, gay businesses are always called upon to support and promote the Pridefest. Faces on Fourth Street has been the sponsor of the Pridefest dance floor, providing the talent, equipment, scheduling, and even radio ads for a two day dance party at the Pridefest for the last 3 years. We are deciding now if, in the face of very little support for Pride from our community, what we can afford to contribute. It is expensive and we all have tighter budgets. Every year, there are some in our community who make the case that our Pride parade reinforces negative stereotypes, that Pride has become too political, and have gone so far as to argue that St. Louis doesn't need a Pride celebration. Last year, we tried something different and posted some of the history of Pride and the Stonewall riots, trying to make the case that Pride, from it's inception has been political, which was the point. When our own customers posted attacks of the drag community on our forum, we pointed out that drag queens were some of the first to stand up for our community; they were the ones arrested at the Stonewall Inn in NYC, the ones called upon to raise the money and confront the ignorance and prejudice. When members of our community attack the drag queens for marching in our Parade, because straight people will think we are all like that, they miss the point. With Pride approaching, and our own controversial Pridefest looming, we thought it would be worth talking about why we celebrate Pride and what our Pridefest should be. Blog Proceed at Your Own Risk has a great posting on Pride. He writes: After reading an article about a debate to "censor" or make Canadian Pride more "family-friendly," I realized that I was wrong. I had convinced myself that the primary purpose of a Pride Parade was to send a message to the majority: we are just like you. We are cops, doctors, accountants, teachers, parents, brothers, daughters and politicians; in short, we are GAY, "good as you."
But one of the Canadian organizers believes that the goal of the parades is to allow people to express themselves in a comfortable environment. "If that's offensive to other people, then those who feel offended need to examine why they are offended....the Pride Parade is a celebration of a human being's right to honest and free self-expression. It's a celebration of self-fulfillment in a safe, celebratory and supportive environment. It's a golden moment, once a year, when she can publicly be who she is without inhibition, without reservation and with pride and support....and, most importantly, on Main Street. Open, out and proud. And so I realized that I was wrong. The message of Pride is not acceptance of gay men and women, the message of Pride is the right of every man and women, gay and straight to live in honesty, freedom and safety. Pride belongs to everyone, gay and straight. Pride Parades celebrate the right of every man and woman on this planet to self-fulfillment." Read the entire post here: http://rjr10036.typepad.com/proceed_at_your_own_risk/2006/04/for_better_or_w.html
