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Today, June 30, marks the conclusion of the annual spectacle known as Pride Month. It should be the last one ever, at least as it is currently celebrated.
Pride Month was originally built around the commemoration of the 1969 Stonewall riots, which occurred after a late-night police raid trapped 200 patrons of the Stonewall Inn, a gay nightclub in Greenwich Village that police had singled out for constant harassment. But what was once a month to promote gay equality has turned into a cesspool of hedonistic debauchery. Pride celebrations throughout the country feature grotesque displays of fetishes and sexual perversions in public that would otherwise get you fired if you sent it in a work email. This isn’t even about homosexuality — it is about parades that feature drag queens mimicking sexual acts in public, half-naked people wearing BDSM masks while interacting with children, and many other performances that can only be called deviant.
The stated purpose of Pride Month was to “recognize the impact that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals have had on history.” That’s a far cry from today’s in-your-face public displays of not-safe-for-work content. No other parade in this country, let alone one that celebrates a demographic’s history or accomplishments in the political process, features deviant sexual acts or perversions that should be reserved for the bedroom, not the parade route. In its current form, these parades are obscene.
Consider Christina Aguilera’s performance during a Pride concert in Los Angeles earlier this month. During one of her acts, the pop singer strutted out wearing a green strap-on sex toy designed to resemble male genitalia. Risque musical acts are nothing new, but they typically come with some disclaimers. The Los Angeles Pride event was marketed as “open to all ages.” Granted, Aguilera’s audience was primarily adults, but her performance is indicative of the toxic turn that Pride has taken in recent years.
At many Pride parades, sick and deviant fetishes are celebrated and performed in front of children who aren’t old enough to get into a PG-13 movie. Yet, because they happen under the banner of the rainbow, they are allowed.
Whatever freaky stuff people want to do behind closed doors, that’s their business. Increasingly, Pride events are attempting to make it everyone’s business, playing to the worst possible stereotypes as they do so. This isn’t a civil rights celebration anymore. As such, it’s time for Pride Month to end.
