Celebrating our past gives us the strength to keep fighting
by Earl Pike
The Stonewall Rebellion has assumed almost mythical dimensions in gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender consciousness. A small band of GLBT people, led by the drag queens among them, got tired of the daily harassment, the daily indignities, the daily discrimination and hatred and decided, without plan or strategy, that they weren't going to take it any more.
On a hot summer night in June, over 30 years ago, they fought back against police intimidation, and carried on that resistance in the days following. A legend—and a model for community self-assertion-was born. Something similar happened a little over a decade later when a strange new plague started making people sick, and looming like an apocalyptic cloud over popular conscious-
ness.
Kaposi's sarcoma, pneumocystis pneumonia, toxoplasmosis and cryptosporidiosis on the one hand; workplace firings, housing evictions, firebombings, refusals of medical care and calls for HIV quarantine on the one hand.
From the beginning, the illnesses that were medical and those that were political or cultural wrapped around each other so tightly that they were impossible to unravel.
In the midst of all this, the fear and disgust and shame and condemnation, small bands of GLBT people--friends and family and lovers and ex-lovers and allies-stepped forward to place cold compresses on fevered brows, change bedpans others wouldn't touch, write angry letters to newspapers and frustrated letters to politicians and sad letters to moms and dads who didn't know, really, until it was very, very late, and your son, my best friend, is sick and would like to see you. A legend--and an updated model for community self-assertion— was born again.
The legends are true.
Annual GLBT pride events are a time to remember our shared histories, proclaim the vitality of our overlapping communities, and
live out, if but for a day, our visions for the future. Pride is a party, a protest, and a parade wrapped into one.
It's difficult at times-when in the last year, we've seen partner benefit setbacks in Dayton and Lakewood-to think about celebrating; it's also essential, so that we maintain hope and action. It's difficult at times-when AIDS is devastating vast parts of the world, and 40,000 new infections occur every year in the United States-to think about celebrating; it's also essential.
It's difficult at times-when Matthew Shepherd is murdered, and we know that bashings occur, still, on a daily basis-to think about celebrating; it's also essential.
It's difficult at times-when new HIV infections among young gay men are beginning to climb steeply once again to celebrate; it's also essential.
It's essential because we're all still here, we're still alive and kicking, we're still engaged in the Great Work of preserving our past, our cultures, our traditions, our aspirations, and all the members of our diverse communities. And we've done it-the GLBT communities, the HIV/AIDS communities— by helping each other, and welcoming the support and strength of friends and allies.
A good reason to celebrate, and an important occasion for the AIDS Taskforce of Greater Cleveland to honor the past-the many GLBT Clevelanders and Ohioans who have helped, and continue to help even today--and celebrate our pride.
Pride in what we can do, and what we will continue doing, until the epidemic is finally over. Pride in what you all have helped us to accomplish. Pride in what small groups of people, in the face of overwhelming odds, can carry out.
From the AIDS Taskforce, and the many people in Ohio living with and affected by HIV/AIDS: Thank you. We'll see you at Pride!
Earl Pike is executive director of the AIDS Taskforce of Greater Cleveland.
Pride Guide 2000
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