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Hi, y’all.
Pride celebrations are coming up, or have already occurred, in most major cities — though not in Austin.
Pride traditionally takes place near the anniversary of the Stonewall riots, or at least during the same month. Austin Pride celebration takes place in September in deference to the heat of June. Instead, June in Austin features Queerbomb, a street celebration of LGBTQ rights that follows the original spirit of Pride.
What began as a riot by fed up queer people (largely drag kings) at a mafia-owned watering hole has had its rough edges taken off over the years. Instead of angry activists, we have family-friendly rainbow runs and drink specials at the local bars. What was once about gay rights has instead become about the pink dollar; the mafia has been replaced by corporate sponsors like Budweiser. I’ve never seen so many drunken fist fights in one night as when I attended Pride Weekend in Dallas last year.
Some activists and Occupy-related groups are queerbombing their local pride events. GLITUR, off-shoot of Occupy Seattle, are organizing Drag Out Capitalism:
“Are you sick of the corporate spectacle that Gay Pride has become in Seattle? Do you reject the way local bars jack up their prices to try to make a profit off what is supposed to be a weekend of celebration and unity? Well so are we!!!,” the event announcement reads.
A guerilla street party with high police presence is also expected.
Organizers from Occupy Wall Street NYC’s Occupride celebrations caught the attention of high-profile gay blogger Joe My God when an organizer quit. This looks like a bit of internal Occudrama which unfortunately attracted the attention of the the blogosphere. What saddens me is the speculation in the comments that suggests occupiers intend to ruin Pride. Meanwhile, queer people can still be fired for their sexual orientation or gender identity; to me, the real threat are those corporate sponsors and beer companies who turn Stonewall into another excuse to get drunk.
In any case, OWS organizers have reorganized and created a new Facebook event for their action. My group, the Occupy Austin OccuQueers will have our first discussion of pride plans at our next meeting.
That’s what’s on my mind tonight.
What about you? This is today’s open thread.
Update: Bay Area OccuPride to target Oakland’s Jean Quan during SF Pride Parade.
4 Comments
I swear Madison Av. and Wall Street would coop genocide and try to make a buck off of it if they could.
Wait a minute…they already have. It’s called CNN…never mind.
Austin PRIDE is also in September to allow the large student population to participate in PRIDE. Last year was the first year of Austin PRIDE in September, which may be the only possibility for some of those students to participate. Also, Austin PRIDE works as a giant fundraiser for local non-profits. We try to put on a great event for those to express themselves out in the open and give back to the community. Last year we raised over $14,000 for local org’s such as ASA, OutYouth, Wright Wellness House, Care Communities, Habitat for Humanity PRIDE Build, TENT, and more! This year we are aiming HIGHER! Austin PRIDE also puts on an event in June, the Stonewall Rally @ The Capitol. This will be the 2nd year, which will feature guest speakers from Equality Texas, GetEqual, TENT, and ASA. It will also feature full on drag performances on the South Steps of the Capitol with a grand drag finale! That event is on June 28th (the anniversary of Stonewall) @ 7pm. While Austin Pride does have corporate sponsorships, we try to reach out to local businesses as the basis for our sponsorships. At the end of the day, every dollar we are able to raise goes to fund the event and profits are donated back to the community to those organizations that have direct impact on our GLBTQ community :) We invite everyone to join us at both the Stonewall Rally and our PRIDE events in September, no matter what flavor of the rainbow you are. Live PROUD!
Paul Huddleston
President
Austin PRIDE
Thank you Kit and Paul, for giving some history on the PRIDE celebrations. Sounds like some terrific activism- fundraisers for non-profits- really really cool!
Paulh:
Thanks for offering some official perspective on Austin Pride. I’m still concerned about the influence of the Pink Dollar on Pride in Austin, not just in the official ceremonies but in how we choose to observe this day, and whether we look at it as a day for activism as well as celebration. Some of this carries over into a larger culture around modern Pride events. But I do applaud the money which goes into local nonprofits.