Glad to see this. My first Pride was in San Diego in 1976. People afraid to march or be visible watched from 2nd story windows along the route. No politicians, no corporations, lots of hecklers on the route.
Things are better in general now, still depends on where you live.
Am grateful to be married to my wife of 33 years, particularly as we navigate her dementia journey. It does help in medical situations.
But it doesn’t mean we don’t experience any homophobia.
I’ve been out for 51 years. I am grateful for the progress, but it is easy to lose if we don’t keep working.
I think that Shakespeare was right and the course of civil rights never did run smooth.
As you state - Pride emerged because we weren’t accepted. I think the need for it being there will remain until we are that visible, all the time, everywhere, and that (if) we become “normal” And, even then, there are groups/individuals, that used to hold their opinions to themselves who are now fully visible, encouraged by the turn of events and slick and sick propaganda. At least we can see the enemy, and perhaps (perhaps) educate them.. And (TG) there politicians out there who are in powerful roles and on our side.
Our story is ours and this beautiful tale is/was always for the long haul. We have strength and being visible brings more!
reading this as a nonbinary femme-presenting person who genuinely doesn’t know some days if I am leaning into my femme presentation because it feels true or because the current political moment makes it feel safer.
that confusion itself is the backlash working. the body making calculations about visibility before the mind has a chance to weigh in.
“invisibility was never safety. it was simply a different form of vulnerability.” I needed that today. And many days… Pride was never proof the fight was over. it was proof we were still fighting.
“As a historian, there are moments when reading contemporary political rhetoric feels like discovering that someone has been photocopying the same moral panic for fifty years and occasionally changing the font.”
Such a perfect description. As a long time history teacher who has taught about social movements, I can tell you the pattern is clear to us as well. And don’t forget whatever the panic is it comes down to blaming feminism and women as a group. Homophobia and misogyny are intertwined ideologies.
No, no, no! I respectfully disagree! Keep ‘em coming! I’ll catch up. Or I won’t but I’ll try. I read them over and over or listen to them on a loop. I want to ingest every word completely. There should be no delay in putting this energy out into the universe. We need it. Thank you.
Dear Prof. Meredith, Your substack is packed with substance, insight, history and delight, but like a box of too-sweet chocolates, I get too much of it. Just a kind reader's suggestion - slow down your emails. I'm not even a subscriber, and I am at least 10 behind in reading them because, yes, I'm a reader and writer too. Anyway you can sparse it out to weekly treat instead of an almost daily dose? Just a suggestion.
Glad to see this. My first Pride was in San Diego in 1976. People afraid to march or be visible watched from 2nd story windows along the route. No politicians, no corporations, lots of hecklers on the route.
Things are better in general now, still depends on where you live.
Am grateful to be married to my wife of 33 years, particularly as we navigate her dementia journey. It does help in medical situations.
But it doesn’t mean we don’t experience any homophobia.
I’ve been out for 51 years. I am grateful for the progress, but it is easy to lose if we don’t keep working.
I think that Shakespeare was right and the course of civil rights never did run smooth.
As you state - Pride emerged because we weren’t accepted. I think the need for it being there will remain until we are that visible, all the time, everywhere, and that (if) we become “normal” And, even then, there are groups/individuals, that used to hold their opinions to themselves who are now fully visible, encouraged by the turn of events and slick and sick propaganda. At least we can see the enemy, and perhaps (perhaps) educate them.. And (TG) there politicians out there who are in powerful roles and on our side.
Our story is ours and this beautiful tale is/was always for the long haul. We have strength and being visible brings more!
So in a strange way, we are actually seeing progress. Yes?
reading this as a nonbinary femme-presenting person who genuinely doesn’t know some days if I am leaning into my femme presentation because it feels true or because the current political moment makes it feel safer.
that confusion itself is the backlash working. the body making calculations about visibility before the mind has a chance to weigh in.
“invisibility was never safety. it was simply a different form of vulnerability.” I needed that today. And many days… Pride was never proof the fight was over. it was proof we were still fighting.
thank you for this.
“As a historian, there are moments when reading contemporary political rhetoric feels like discovering that someone has been photocopying the same moral panic for fifty years and occasionally changing the font.”
Such a perfect description. As a long time history teacher who has taught about social movements, I can tell you the pattern is clear to us as well. And don’t forget whatever the panic is it comes down to blaming feminism and women as a group. Homophobia and misogyny are intertwined ideologies.
No, no, no! I respectfully disagree! Keep ‘em coming! I’ll catch up. Or I won’t but I’ll try. I read them over and over or listen to them on a loop. I want to ingest every word completely. There should be no delay in putting this energy out into the universe. We need it. Thank you.
Dear Prof. Meredith, Your substack is packed with substance, insight, history and delight, but like a box of too-sweet chocolates, I get too much of it. Just a kind reader's suggestion - slow down your emails. I'm not even a subscriber, and I am at least 10 behind in reading them because, yes, I'm a reader and writer too. Anyway you can sparse it out to weekly treat instead of an almost daily dose? Just a suggestion.
I remember when pride actually meant something lol