|  PRIDE
FOR DUMMIES!
By
Jim Pizzo
STOP!
BREATHE! Don’t write that email and hit send! You
know, the one that says, "How dare you call me a dummy!"
or "Who made you the PRIDE master?" Save
that email to ‘Save As Draft’ and allow me to explain.
A series of books exists that explains various subjects in
easy to learn terms. Their intention is to make the subject
matter an easy read and to state things in terms easy to comprehend.
Any subject matter can ride along with ... FOR DUMMIES!
Hence my title, PRIDE FOR DUMMIES!
 I
volunteer for the Long
Island Pride Parade Committee as this year’s Executive
Director. Along with 8 other hard working, dedicated Board
members and many other volunteers, we host Long Island’s
PRIDE Day events each year. To ensure that we always
build on the previous years’ successes the committee
joined the North East Regional Pride (NERP) membership. Over
forty GLBT organizations responsible for PRIDE events
from Western Pa to NY, from Maine to D.C. meet annually in
a different city. Always held during the first weekend of
March, the conference hosts organize workshops such as "How
To Recruit & Keep Volunteers," "How To Run Effective
Meetings," "Fund-Raising" and much more. This
year two new PRIDE organizations joined: Jersey City
Pride and Southern Maine Pride.
Talking
to these new groups and the other attendees sparked this essay’s
idea. It popped into my head and screamed, "WRITE
ME!" Those who know me well can attest to those screaming
voices and how cursed I am until I put ‘hands to PC’.
In this case it was ‘pen to paper’. I left my laptop
home while on vacation and wrote this essay in long hand first.
It brought back such memories. Say, that could be the subject
for my next essay, Pen vs. PC – Which Is Mightier
Than The Sword? But I digress, sorry. Back to the
essay at hand, and the conference.
Some
of us had a discussion at the closing night’s dinner
that included such topics as the number of years we each volunteered
for our PRIDE events, when did we come ‘OUT,’
how did our families and friends react, what hassles do we
face at work, does our employer have same sex partner benefits,
etc. Then Stonewall, the riots and the first PRIDE
march entered the discussion topics. That’s when I sat
back, looked around me and reflected on these PRIDE
organizers. I also soul searched within myself and asked,
"How much do we really know about our national GLBT PRIDE
history? How much do we know about each community’s PRIDE
history?
Looking
at the demographics of this year’s conference attendees,
I related them to the GLBT community at large. Of the 150
PRIDE volunteer attendees the age range fell between
18 and 65. The larger group had about 100 people, ages 35-50,
while 25 were between ages 18-34 and 51-65. In our communities
I see the same ratios. In my opinion, most youth groups want
to get involved with PRIDE organizing but don’t
know where to start so they tend to hold back; most seniors
think they have nothing to contribute or possibly feel that
it’s best left in the hands of the younger generations.
I
observed during the seminars’ Q&A the idealism and
naiveté of youth compared to the wise and sometimes
jaded voice of the elder attendees. I was able to ascertain
most attendees’ familiarities with our PRIDE history
from their questions and talks I had with them during the
conference breaks. The meeting leaders expertly helped us
develop action plans that contain excellent compromise between
‘we tried that before and it failed’ and ‘let’s
take the events to the edge and beyond’. One thing became
clear throughout the conference: our community’s PRIDE
history plays a vital role in planning each year’s PRIDE
events.
A
large part in becoming familiar with our PRIDE past
is our individual coming ‘OUT’ process. Coming
‘OUT’ is not reserved for the young. Everyone,
20+ to 60+ and older, decides when it is the right time personally
to declare publicly his or her inclusion in the GLBT community.
It is the responsibility of those ‘OUT’ to
act as role models, council and help others with their coming
‘OUT’ process. Once ‘OUT’
it is vital to our community’s future to become familiar
with our PRIDE past. This includes milestones in politics,
entertainment, sports, health care, illnesses, treatments
and possible cures, etc. Names, dates, symbols and their meaning,
proposed legislation, Bills passed into law, those not passed
yet but still struggling to get passed, all of these are the
very foundation of our national GLBT community.
No
one is expected to know every date and person that affected
our community but there is no excuse knowing nothing at all,
especially with the Internet at our disposal. If the conference
statistics hold true to our community then many of us know
bits and pieces about our PRIDE past, few know the
truly important facts and there are many who don’t know
even where to look for the information. Sadder still is the
fact that some members of our community don’t see the
significance in learning much about our PRIDE journey
at all. This is very distressing and does not bode well for
PRIDE’s future.
Those
who were 25 in 1969 during Stonewall are now 58. Researching
this essay I found that many of the active participants back
in 1969 were between 25 and 35, which would make them between
58 and 68 today. Those actively involved in passing down our
history need our help. We must make sure that everyone is
given the facts, accurately and often. Our community’s
successes and setbacks are what shape our PRIDE future.
Long
Island’s PRIDE history is well documented in Newsday’s
archives. Unfortunately historians and archivists will take
decades to formulate the complete national anthology of our
GAY PRIDE MOVEMENT USA. We can’t wait. It is our
responsibility to arm us now with as many PRIDE facts,
dates, names and milestones as possible. We need to know about
Sappho, the most famous resident of the Greek Isle of Lesbos
in the 7th century (600 A.D. – 699 A.D.) as
well as question if Governor Pataki is only pushing for the
NYS Senate ratification of SONDA (Sexual Orientation Non Discrimination
Act) in 2002 because he is running for re-election? We need
to know what SONDA is, why the transgender community wants
to block the proposed Bill as worded. Why does the transgender
community strongly feel that specific wording for transgender
inclusion and possibly stalling SONDA’s 2002 passage
is better than passing without it? These issues need to be
discussed and our community needs to respect each other’s
opinions and our right to have one. We also need to look at
our roots for guidance. We must take gains as they come and
put any setbacks on the list of the next important issues
we will fight for as a community.
 Researching
our national PRIDE history I came across two excellent
books: Gay Essentials, Facts For Your Queer Brain by
David Bianco and Out For Good, The Struggle To Build A
Gay Rights Movement In America by Dudley Clendinen &
Adam Nagourney. While there are many other accounts in print,
I found these two books informative, detailed and concise
as well as easy reads. Shane Harrison of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
hails Out For Good as groundbreaking in scope. It takes
the reader from the birth of the modern Gay Rights Movement
with Stonewall in 1969 through 1988. Bianco’s Gay
Essentials proves ‘If you can ask it, Bianco can
answer it’. The book is written in short story format
and has 101 questions and answers about our community’s
international history.
Look
to your friends for support. Have an open dialogue and assess
what you all know about our PRIDE history (without
opinion and/or commentary). Once you determine the gray areas,
decide the best way your group could learn what it needs to
know. Someone can research and recommend reading material
for the group. Everyone then agrees to read the books and
discuss their contents. Another person can research and find
pertinent films and documentaries, host a video party for
the group. Come up with your own creative ways to educate
your friends to our PRIDE past. We all know our community
can be creative!
In
conclusion, I suggest that everyone research one fact from
our national GLBT community archives. Share that learned fact
with someone this June 9th at Long Island’s
PRIDE Day events. It will bond each of us not only
to our past but will hopefully spark an idea that will best
serve our community’s future. I hope to see all of you
at Long Island’s PRIDE celebration this year in
Huntington.
I’ll
be the one with the microphone urging us all to contribute
to our PRIDE FOR DUMMIES archives by sharing those
learned facts!
Also
see related articles:
 Pride:
The Meaning is in the Mind
Rainbow
Flags and Yellow Equal Signs Don't Reflect Today's GLBT
Community
Photos
by Louis Trapani (c) 2002
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