(New York) LGBTQ+ pride commemorations that sometimes seem like victory parties for civil rights are now grappling with an environment of legislative battles and heightened rhetoric about sexual orientation and gender identity. The Supreme Court ruling on abortion also raises fears of loss of rights for the community.
Posted at 10:26 p.m.
Large crowds are expected Sunday at Pride events in New York and other cities, including San Francisco, Chicago, Denver and Toronto, as part of a return to large in-person events after two years of restrictions caused by the pandemic.
Like every year, the celebrations promise to be exuberant and festive. But, for many, they will also carry a renewed sense of urgency and concern.
“There are so many anti-LGBTQ attacks going on across the country, and a lot of them are really about erasing our existence and making us invisible, and making our youth invisible and our elders invisible,” pointed out Michael Adams, who is the head of the LGBTQ+ seniors’ rights organization, SAGE.
Extremists have taken an increasingly hostile stance toward Pride events, including plotting an attack on a march in Idaho, while conservative state governments have proposed and, in some cases, passed a host of anti-LGBTQ+ laws.
Another blow came on Friday, when the Supreme Court’s conservative majority overturned the “Roe v. Wade” decision, which had long guaranteed a national right to abortion, and has many people wondering if the same-sex marriage could be next.
The majority decision said it was only about abortion, but in his concurring opinion, Justice Clarence Thomas said other cases should be reconsidered, including the one that legalized same-sex marriage.
In March, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed legislation banning the teaching of sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third grade, which critics decried as an effort to marginalize children. LGBTQ+ people and castigated as the “Don’t Say Gay” law.
In Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican like Ron DeSantis, sent a letter to state health agencies in February saying it would be child abuse under state law for young people. transgender people to seek gender-affirming medical care. A judge halted full implementation of any parental lawsuit.
A history of protests
The protest has always been a feature of New York’s Pride Parade, which roughly coincides with the anniversary of the start of the Stonewall uprising of June 28, 1969 – days of angry demonstrations sparked by a police raid on a gay bar in Manhattan.
Marchers in the 1980s protested the government’s lack of attention to the AIDS epidemic.
In recent years, however, they have often celebrated major victories for LGBTQ+ communities, such as in 2015 when the Supreme Court ruled in Obergefell v. Hodges acknowledging gay marriage.
This is not the case this year however.
“This year we have seen an avalanche of aggressively hostile anti-LGBTQ bills in many states and several of them passed last year,” said Jennifer Pizer, Chief Legal and Policy Officer of Lambda Legal. .
A need for activism
It’s a reminder of a reality: In addition to celebration, there’s always a need for activism, said Joe Negrelli, 70, a longtime New York Pride attendee who worried about gender equality. wedding.
“Could he be overthrown? Yes, I believe so. It’s a possibility,” he said of the court ruling legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide. This “makes me want to put more energy into walking”.
Anyone who might have been “lullened into a false sense of security” by previous civil rights victories “has been woken up now,” added Michael Adams. “I think many of us who understand the history of the struggle for equality, fairness and social justice in this country know that the struggle is never over. »
It’s not just about laws and court decisions. Those who follow hate speech say anti-LGBTQ+ slurs have increased online, raising fears that extremists will take it as a call to take action, like the wave of protests and physical disruptions which took place at Drag Queen Story Hours, where adults in drag read books to children.
Earlier this month, 31 members of a white supremacist group, wearing riot gear, were arrested on charges of plotting a major disruption at a Pride event in Idaho.
“Love Can Linger”
That doesn’t mean the celebration is on the sidelines, activists say.
“There can be celebration and joy, and also purpose in protest,” Jennifer Pizer said.
Ellen Ensig-Brodsky, 89, has taken on both roles during her decades of participating in Pride as an LGBTQ+ rights activist.
“The parade is the display, publicly, of my identity and my group that I have been part of for at least 40 years or more,” she said, adding that she will walk again on Sunday. “I certainly wouldn’t want to miss it. »
After all this time, the animosity and hostility she sees across the country is no stranger to her.
“The intention to increase the anti-LGBTQ presence” is a return to what I started with decades ago, she recalled. At the time, we didn’t go out. We hid. »
This will no longer be the case, she concluded. “I think we have to show that love can persist, continue and spread. »