By Joe Jones
COVID 19 has disrupted and displaced everyone’s lives, ushering in a new normal that has made everyone uneasy and uncertain for what the future will hold. Many of us were holding out for the silver lining that quarantine could potentially be lifted in time for enjoying a summer with friends and family. However, there is little indication that will happen. So many summer concerts and festivals have been postponed or cancelled. For LGBTQ people, the summer months hold a special significance because of Pride month, a time for us to celebrate our identities and the struggles and victories that have been an integral part of journey as queers. Nonetheless, it seems that Miss Rona has other plans for Pride this year.
On April 20th, New York Mayor Bill De Blasio announced that all non-essential events in June will be cancelled. Unfortunately, this included the New York Pride March, marking 2020 as the first year that the historic celebration will not be held. Prior to that announcement, San Francisco Pride was called off as well. In addition, Chicago Pride has been postponed until Labor Day weekend, Boston Pride has been postponed until 2021, and Rochester Pride has also been postponed until September 2021.
With all of these postponements and cancellations, many LGBTQ people are feeling a sense of loss, emptiness, and despair. Pride is a time for our community to come together and honor the trailblazers who paved the way for us to enjoy the rights and freedoms we are able to enjoy today, as well as to pay respects for those who died in the fight for LGBTQ liberation. Without Pride events to look forward to, there is a disconnect to our chosen family and those we have lifted up and who have in turn empowered us.
Many members of our community work in the service, nightlife, and gig industry. Bartenders, servers, DJs, and drag performers have all been left jobless with no means of income and are unable to pursue their creative passions. Many of these individual’s existence and purpose hinge on our community coming together in support of these industries, and while their workplace is shut down, they continue to struggle financially. Many LGBTQ establishments are small businesses that may not be able to remain open without any revenue coming in. For an industry that is already having difficulty remaining successful, these lockdowns may be the final nail in the coffin. LGBTQ artists are also suffering a tremendous hit during this time. Photographers, graphic designers, print makers, and other queer creatives have experienced from a loss of at least two months’ worth of work, and may not be able to recover to keep their enterprise’s afloat.
While these are dark days for our community, it is important to remain optimistic, and remember that we do not need a festival or a parade to celebrate our identities. Pride is more than just a holiday. It is also a state of mind, a connection to our inner truth, and our deep ties
to others in our community. Pride is holding our partner’s hand in public. Pride is correcting pronouns when someone in our community is mis-gendered. Pride is walking down the street, unafraid and unashamed. Every day we celebrate Pride by being our authentic selves and by feeling connected to members of our community and chosen family.
LGBTQ people have a natural ability of taking something negative and traumatic, and making it fabulous. The first Pride parade was born out of the Stonewall Riots, which was a breaking point from years of oppression and systemic violence. If anyone can take a tragedy and turn it into something beautiful, it’s our community. During the AIDS crisis, our community came together to fight for awareness and a response to the epidemic from a government neglecting the issue. And during that struggle, we never once lost our sense of Pride, and we will not during COVID 19.
Despite June lacking Pride events, there is still a plethora of ways we can still celebrate Pride during Pride month without leaving our homes. Read books by your favorite LGBTQ authors or watch classic films and television series in the LGBTQ canon. If you are quarantined with your loved ones, might I suggest throwing your own Pride party at home? Put on your favorite Pride anthems and dance the night away. Or you could throw a Pride Brunch over Zoom and invite queers in isolation. Watch online drag shows and tip your favorite local performs on Venmo and CashApp. Also, be on the lookout for other virtual events being put on as a digital substitute for Pride, such as InterPride’s “Global Pride,” a 24-hour virtual event scheduled for June 27th, which will include local, regional, and national Pride organizers. You can also support LGBTQ artists by commissioning work, ordering prints, booking social distanced shoots, and buying their work as well.
The circumstances we are in may seem bleak, but it is important, now more than ever, to not allow this pandemic to take away everything we hold dear. We can still maintain our sense of Pride feeling empowered and renewed by the celebration of the spirit of the Pride that guides and grounds us to who we are as individuals and what we represent. We have overcome tremendous loss and unsurmountable tragedy, and we still held fast to our optimism for a prosperous future. We are survivors, and we are warriors. We will get through this together, and we will be stronger as a result. And when this crisis is over, we will celebrate Pride bigger and better than ever. Pride may be cancelled, but the spirit of Pride will never die, because it lives inside each and every one of us, and that can never be taken away.