Pride in July

At Equality Bahamas, we host Pride events throughout the month of July. In many parts of the world, Pride events take place in June, often marked by a march. Even with information at our fingertips, people pretend not to understand what Pride is or why it exists, or they insist on maintaining their ignorance. Pride is the commemoration of the struggle for civil rights and equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersex people and the entire LGBTQI+ community. It is most often held in June in honor of the 1969 Stonewall Riots in New York City. On June 28, 1969, police showed up to raid the Stonewall Inn on Christopher Street. Rather than go through what seemed to have become a routine raid, patrons refused to comply. Instead, they resisted. There are many accounts of what happened in the wee hours of that Saturday morning, and from different vantage points. It is absolutely clear, in all accounts, that this led to a week of protests—a turning point for LGBTQI+ people and the beginning of a movement. 

Over the past 50 years, many changes have been made to laws and policies as the movement strengthened and called attention to the humanity and, by extension, the human rights of LGBTQI+ people. While the seeds of positive change have spread to every region, they have not taken root everywhere, or even in the same ways where they have. While LGBTQI+ movements advocate for same-sex marriage in some countries, LGBTQI+ movements in other countries are still working toward decriminalization of same-sex intimacy. Priorities not only vary from region to region, but also from one country to another. 

In the Caribbean, decriminalization is a priority, and there have been several successes over the past eight years since Belize decriminalized same-sex intimacy—the first country to do so since The Bahamas in 1991. The work ahead, throughout the region, is immense, both in securing legal protection from discrimination and violence and in changing the mindset of societies that have been forced to believe, through slavery, colonization, and religious fundamentalism, that LGBTQI+ people are subhuman and should not have human rights. LGBTQI+ people are human beings and have human rights which include the right to life, liberty, and security of person. These are all threatened when laws, policies, and social attitudes leads to violence and discrimination against LGBTQI+ people.

The risk of violence and discrimination historically led to LGBTQI+ people hiding their identities. To refer to it as shame is to oversimplify and mischaracterize what was happening, and what continues to happen today. While people certainly tried and try to convince us all that being LGBTQI+ people is shameful, people and the systems they created and continue to uphold have proven that it is unsafe to honest and authentic as LGBTQI+ people. The environment was created to force silence and the punishment for breaking the silence was shame. We see enough examples of the harassment, disrespect, discrimination, and violence meted out against LGBTQI+ people today to easily imagine what it was like decades ago.

Pride was a response to the shame that was forced upon LGBTQI+ people. It was a decision to stand when expected to cower. It was a refusal to be invisible. Pride was an opportunity to become and to exude the opposite of the misplaced shame. It still is. 

When hateful people hear about Pride, they often project their own ideas onto it. They only understand pride to be rooted in ego because that is the pride they feel and practice. They take great exception to Pride—both the name and the related activities—because they count on their violence and discrimination creating environments where LGBTQI+ people feel unsafe and have little or no choice but to operate from a place of shame or fear of being shamed or bringing shame to their loved ones. When LGBTQI+ people reject shame and decide to not only love and respect self, but to demonstrate it and to offer that love and respect to others, they defeat the hatred so carefully nurtured by those who are (rather kindly) referred to as “homophobes.”

Pride is the rejection of the expectation that LGBTQI+ people hide, make themselves invisible, and live in shame. It is the decision to be in community, publicly. It is the continuation of the Stonewall Riots of 1969. It is a reminder that we all walk the same earth, and no one deserves to be more alive, living more fully, than anyone else. It is time together, in community, being spent on activities that matter to the participants. It is (taking the) freedom to be. 

In countries like the U.S. and the UK, Pride is a party. There are joyful marches, complete with singing and dancing, live performances, and giveaways on the street. There are festive outfits. There are events that precede and follow the parade, from brunches and panel discussions to concerts and drag shows. Pride tends to evolve with the environment. It takes a celebratory tone where more rights have been affirmed and articulated in the law. Some countries that have made less progress also have LGBTQI+ organizations and movements that choose to make Pride as festive as possible, recognizing it as one of the few times that LGBTQI+ people can be together, in a large group, occupying public space. 

At Equality Bahamas, we focus on the LGBTQI+ community during the Pride. As a result of the violence and discrimination that LGBTQI+ people face, there is often less access to necessary services. In some cases, LGBTQI+ people are able to access education and healthcare, and may be able to find work, but the environments are hostile. There is a need for care, and Equality Bahamas works to fill the gap.

Aware of Pride events in the month of June, Equality Bahamas intentionally hosts Pride events in July, extending the period of time that we focus on the LGBTQI+ community. Member of the community can participate in the June events that have an entirely different purpose, then have the opportunity to connect with community members while looking inward, identifying personal needs, and moving toward fulfilling those needs. Throughout July, Equality Bahamas is offering free yoga sessions with Get Fit Life and group therapy with Jessica the Therapist. LGBTQI+ people interest in accessing these sessions can contact us at equalitybahamas@gmail.com. 

Recommendations

1. Join a book club. This can be a great way to get encouragement to read more, and to add a social element to an otherwise solitary exercise. Articulate your opinions, ask questions, listen to other perspectives, get comparative titles, and widen your social circle. Feminist Book Club, hosted by Equality Bahamas and Poinciana Paper Press is an option. This month, we are reading Where Was Goodbye? by Bahamian author Janice Lynn Mather. We’ll meet to discuss the book on Wednesday, August 21 at 6pm EDT. To join Feminist Book Club, sign up at tiny.cc/fbc2024.

2. Learn about something outside of your own experience. It is easy to have a dangerously narrow world view, especially if you are not able to travel or regularly engage people living in other places and in other ways. Read a book by an author from another part of the world. Research a religion that is not your own. Listen to a podcast episode about a topic you know very little about. Watch a video that present an argument with which you are not inclined to agree. Think of a country you have made a judgment about on the basis of one fact, and find out why things are that way. When someone presents an opinion that you do not share, instead of arguing, ask them to share their thoughts with you. The point is not to be right, and it is not even to change your mind. The point is to be open to other perspectives and ideas, and to see the world beyond yourself.

3. Check out (Loud and ) Proud. This mix was created by DJ Ampero for Pride month 2024. Access it on MixCloud at tiny.cc/pridemix24 and Spotify at tiny.cc/pridemusic24.