Pride and Prejudice

Do we replace our own insecurity and fear of prejudice by staunch pride?

As the rainbow flags of another summers’ Pride events fade into memories and we wait out another cold Northern Irish winter, I have begun to wonder just why we feel the need to display gay pride in such a bold way.

The function of gay pride parades is open to interpretation. Some may argue it is for us to show who we are; while for others it’s just another excuse to party.

As people hold their banners high, both physically and mentally, it may seem a victory march - a memorial for what all homosexuals have come through, both personally and in the generations of prejudiced society. Perhaps, behind the feathers and glitter there is a sense of foreboding, of what is still to come. Gays escaped into the music that resounded about the streets of Belfast and around the world – ‘Some danced to remember, Some danced to forget.’

As a ‘closeted’ lesbian, Pride represented a turning point in my life – the realisation that I wasn’t alone. The rainbow colours washed away the loneliness, and replaced it instead with a feeling of extreme pride.

Gay Pride means different things to different people. While it may be a sharing in feeling, the feeling is still personal. To pick out a single reason why we continue to fill the streets with colour would be wrong.

As Belfast Pride moves into its 16th year, one thing is certain; Pride will continue to swell in Northern Ireland.

Reccomended links:

This article was originally written a few weeks after my first Pride, Belfast 2003. It has been published on www.worldqueerdomination.com - check it out!

Photo - (c) Andrew Muir - http://www.andrewmuir.net/ - Used with permission :)