Understanding Pride Month: its vital role in advancing LGBTQ+ rights

In 1996, Pastor Baker led the chant of a group of Christians protesting at the Joburg Pride, as he had done on previous occasions, holding up the usual "Adam & Eve, not Adam & Steve" posters, while clutching and preaching from his bible.

A bunch of queens armed with posters bearing our Tree Emblem and Preamble to our Constitution leapt onto a float at Library Gardens in a fabulous flurry, thrusting the posters in front of themselves, forward and backward, and getting the whole crowd to chant back: "God loves me, and he knows I'm gay!"

Pure genius.

If you didn't know, Gay is an acronym for "Good As You".

It was not the first Pride event I had ever attended, but it was certainly light years apart from the first one I supported in Durban in the 90s.

Along the city streets and beachfront moved a small group of somewhat subdued attendees.

Among them were several who wore paper packets over their heads, with holes cut into them so they could see where they were going.

Being identified at a gay event in the 90s could jeopardise your job, friendships and family ties

So when I look back, I realise that we have come a long way in addressing homophobia, scrapping apartheid immorality laws that made us criminals simply because of who we loved. We now have a Constitution that recognises our relationships and right to marry, and laws that protect us.

But this came at a price, and was not dished out on a plate by benevolent lawmakers.

It had to be fought for, as it has been fought elsewhere, and continues to be fought in countries grappling with religious dogma, societal and cultural pressure.

The Stonewall Riots

On June 28, 1969, all hell broke loose in New York when cops raided a gay bar called Stonewall as they had for the umteenth time, but patrons fought back that evening, leading to six days of riots that made headlines around the world.

Big butch guys, dikes and fem boys bashed back. Trans women like Marsha P. Johnson became icons for their brave pushback against authority.

Gay Pride

When the first anniversary of Stonewall approached, it was suggested that the event be named "Gay Power", but this was shelved and replaced with "Gay Pride" because the organisers knew that power had not been attained, and may never be achieved in some countries.

It was the actions of these few individuals that gave rise to a global fight for civil rights, with the rallying cry being: "Recognise our relationships".

This struggle intersected with the liberation struggle in South Africa, leading to a collaboration that saw Pride marches take place in Soweto.

Simon Nkoli, an anti-apartheid activist who founded the Gay and Lesbian Organisation of the Witwatersrand (GLOW), made a speech at the 1990 Pride event in Johannesburg where he famously said: “I am black and I am gay. I cannot separate the two parts of me into secondary and primary struggles.

"In South Africa, I am oppressed as a black person. And I am oppressed because I am gay. So when I fight for my freedom, I must fight for both oppressions. All intolerance. All Injustice.”

Why is Gay Pride still relevant?

Across social media and even in polite conversation, the question often arises: "But why do you keep going on about Pride?"

Well, the answer is pretty simple, really: Homophobia still exists.

Heterosexual people don't face discrimination for being straight. It is best conveyed in a meme doing the rounds: "There's no 'Straight Pride Month' for the same reason that there's no soup kitchen for the rich."

People are still murdered because of their sexual orientation, thrown out by their parents when they come out, overlooked for promotion, and the list goes on.

Events across the globe are occasions to celebrate how far we've come, but are also there to offer encouragement to those who feel isolated and unable to "come out" and are there to challenge the rest of society and lawmakers to move forward and make peace with the fact that we've been here all along and deserve to be treated with dignity and equality.

∎ The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of IOL or Independent Media.