Things are about to get a little more colourful in Golden with the upcoming pride celebration.
Already, the Interact Club of Golden has repainted the rainbow crosswalk, located at the arena. A barbecue will be hosted at the pool and spray park following a flag raising ceremony in Spirit Square.
This is the first event of its kind in Golden.
The first gay pride parades began 50 years ago in the U.S. after LGBTQ+ persons rioted following a police raid on a gay bar in New York City. Later that year, the first pride march was organized.
In Canada, the gay pride movement really took a turn just before the Stonewall riots in New York, when homosexual acts were decriminalized in 1969. In 1971, the first protests for gay rights took place in Ottawa and Vancouver, demanding an end to discrimination.
Even though being gay had been decriminalized, LGBTQ+ people in Canada continued to suffer, as police tried to “clean up” cities, cracking down against gay bars, continuing to fuel intolerance and prejudice against LGBTQ+ people.
It has been a really slow movement, if you think about it. We’ve been working for more than 50 years for LGBTQ+ rights, incorporating transgender rights into the solution, extending human rights to protect transgender and transsexual people only in 2013.
Pride is such an important event. It celebrates the differences of being gay, lesbian, bisexual, trans, everything in between, and beyond. It shows the community that “gay is good,” and brings people together. It has tranformed and evolved from its protest and riot phase, and into celebration.
Just because it has been 50 years, and so many positive steps have been taken on a government level to protect LGBTQ+ people, doesn’t mean the fight is over.
Every day, even now, gay people across the spectrum face discrimination, alienation, and hostility from people in their communities. Not even a year ago, our own rainbow crosswalk was defaced, as many others had been. It is hard to believe that this type of bigotry exists in our lovely town.
We should be bringing each other up, not putting each other down. It is as simple as decent human respect. Just because your views don’t align with someone else’s, doesn’t mean there is room for contempt. We can live happily together to make this community the best place it can be, and that means having a vibrant and thriving gay community as well.
Who someone loves is their decision. Who you love is your decision.
Let’s all learn to tolerate the opinions and behaviour of others, and vice versa.
“Being gay is like glitter, it never goes away,” Lady Gaga once said. And, who doesn’t like glitter?
