Why be in a gay parade?

by RANDY ALFRED

Randy Alfred, an author-activist now living in Berkeley, California, was involved with the planning of the 1975 San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade.

In late June parades were held in San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York Boston and other cities major and minor throughout the United States. These are variously designated as the Gay Freedom Day Parade, the Gay Pride Parade, or the Christopher Street March. The last of these appellations refers to the location of New York's Stonewall Inn, where a spontaneous uprising against raiding policemen in June of 1969 flared into the Concord and Lexington of Gay Liberation. There had been important prior events in the gay strugg le against oppression, much as the Boston Tea Party preceded the American Revolu tion. But the Stonewall Rebellion is the symbolic beginning of the modern gay movement, and so each year near the end of June we celebrate our unity and declare our political strength in large gatherings.

Yet, despite the large numbers participating in these events in the past, many gay people still refrain from them. Many who should be in the streets merely stand on the sidewalks and let the parade pass them by. What are their reasons for doing so, and why should you participate, anyway?

When we analyze these reservations and motivations, we should be aware of three different, but certainly interrelated, levels of impact. First, what will participating do for us individually? How will it make us feel? Second, what are the effects on our community of gay men and women? If we feel good about ourselves, we can be open and honest with, and accepting of one another. If we build strong and supportive communities, we can aid in the personal liberation of individuals still struggling to unlock the doors of their closets. Third, what impact do these parades and other events have upon straights? How effective can they be politically, as public relations? Can we project our newfound pride and power to further our liberation in terms of social acceptance and legislative victories?

Some people think that gay parades are passe. They were in a march or two, a few years back, when the idea was new. Now it seems like yesterday's fashions, and they wouldn't be caught dead in any thing so terribly dated. This is the kind of nonsense responsible for the annual articles on the death of Rock and Roll. The press isn't interested in it anymore; so people pretend that it's simply not there. But no matter how many times it's been buried, it refuses to give up and die as directed.

Similarly, some people no longer concern themselves with environmental issues; it's no longer the rage. Well, if ecology is a fad, it's the last fad, friends. And if Gay Liberation and community solidarity are just passing fashions, we might find out too late that our growing public acceptance and recent legislative progress may be passing fashions, too.

Now is not the time to assume that we have won all that is rightfully ours. A coalition sponsored by right-wing Legislators and fundamentalist Christian churches is planning a referendum to repeal California's newly enacted Consensual Sex Law. This legislation, sponsored by Assemblyman Willie Brown, will legalize (as of January 1, 1976) private sexual acts between consenting adults, gay and straight. A growing antiGay backlash now threatens to put this repeal measure on next June's California primary ballot. Meanwhile, P.T.A. groups and others are seeking to exempt public employees from the provisions of Assemblyman John Foran's AB633 which would prohibit discrimination in employment on the basis of sexual preference.

In New York City last year Intro 2, a similar civil rights bill for gays, was defeated by an anti-homosexual front supported by the city's firemen and the Roman Catholic Archdiocese. In Boulder, Colorado, gay rights legislation was repealed' by the voters in an election that also recalled council members who had

enacted the law. The much-publicized gay marriages in Colorado have been stopped, and the legality of those already performed has been called into question. We must struggle and be ever vigilant to preserve rights that our ours, to consolidate our victories, and to build new ones. Political apathy is easy but expensive.

CLOSETS

Clearly, though, many gay people don't take part in the parades because they are still in the closet. Either they have not acknowledged to themselves their own gayness, or they are self-aware gays who feel they must still hide their preferences and their lifestyles from antigay friends, families, employers, schools, and various institutions. We cannot expect the former to march, but their existence is itself further reason for the rest of us to participate. The more we are visible, the more we show that we feel good about feeling and being gay, and the more we show ourselves to be mutually supportive, then the more we encourage these sisters and brothers to take that all-important step of self-acceptance.

"Well," says the self-acknowledged but still closeted gay, "what if someone I know sees me?" There's no better place and no better time to be seen. You can march proudly in the clear light of day among thousands or scores of thousands of gay persons. The parade can be a liberating experience for you personally, and your participation should encourage others to march and add to the political clout of the parade by swelling the ranks of the visible gay electorate.

Remember, it's no crime to march. And it's not a crime to be gay either, even where penal code reform hasn't been enacted. The law may regulate your behavior, but it can't tell you what to think or who to be. It's impossible to arrest the truth. If you're not worried about legalities, but you still have close friends or family who don't know about your gayness, Gay Pride Week

VECTOR 47