The History of Pride

LGBT history is not so much talked about. Our history is a part of American history and yet it is often left in the dark. There is this town that is about an hour and a half away from where I live. Watertown SD is the name of the town. They are having their first pride event. I went to high school in this town, and it wasn't the most LGBT friendly small town. It's nice to see that almost 50 years after Stonewall, that they are having a Pride in the Park event. Their event is not going to be as big as Sioux Falls Pride, but it is still progress. While reading the add for Watertown's pride event, I saw something that completely set me back. Somewhere in that article stated that it was 50 years since the first parade. First of all Watertown, Stonewall was not a parade. It was a riot. One day after being put down their entire lives, a group of LGBT people said enough was enough. Martha P Johnson and sometimes Syliva Revara are credited for throwing the first brick at Stonewall. Really no one is sure who it was, but they credit it to a butch lesbian. The Stonewall Riots was where everything started to turn. Throughout the 1960s in America, police would raid bars to catch and arrest people for being LGBT. June 29th, 1970 was when the first parades happened. They happened because at the time we needed them. It was an event where a group of disenfranchised people could be themselves in public for the day. This is only a sliver of LGBT history, but it should be told right. If you live in Watertown SD, or just planning to go to the event. Remember 50 years ago, was the Stonewall Riots, not the celebration of the first pride.

Straight Pride

Recently I came across something while scrolling through both Facebook and Youtube. Normally this is something I would try to pay no mind to, and that is having a straight pride parade. In August, it is set for Boston to have a straight pride parade. This is also the same year that marks the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots. June 29th, 1969, the Stonewall Riots started, and they went until July 2nd, 1969. Straight pride just sound ridiculous. Being heterosexual has never caused someone their job, and it hasn't been demonized or has been called immoral. We have Pride to recognize that a community is still under attack. Yes, it is better than it was 50 years ago. The moment we stop needing an LGBT Pride month, or even a celebration is the moment we are seen as equals. It's the same moment that our some of our families see us as people and not some sort of shell of the person they thought they knew. Being gay is having greens eyes or a darker skin tone. You don't choose to be gay. The moment I realized that personally, my life became so much easier and so much harder. It was easier because I no hid that part of myself, and being honest with myself meant I was no longer denying apart of myself. What made it harder is the fact that some of my family members are not LGBT friendly. Some of my friends are still trying to come around to the idea. The idea that I dated men in the past meant somehow I couldn't be same-sex only. There are so many misconceptions about being gay, and coming out. Just because I am 25 years and I have finally come out about being gay doesn't make it any less valid. It is just as valid, and many others just like me are just as valid. What I go through and what many others in my community are going through, these are huge reasons why we don't need a straight pride celebration. You get that every time you walk out the door. I wrap my arm around my girlfriend in public, someone may make a big deal out of it. We have this fear in the back of our minds that someone might try to hurt us because we are a lesbian couple. It takes one time for someone to say or do something. The day someone who is straight starts seeing their rights be stripped away or start seeing violent actions being taken towards them is the day they need a parade. I will be one of the first people defending those rights. It is not an us versus them. Everyone deserves to have the same rights. Pride lets us show others that we exist and we are going to keep doing so. That we are going to keep fighting for our rights.

Everything is Political

Politics is something that I think about often. I feel like if I am not talking about it that I am not breathing. In the political climate that the United States is in right now, politics play a role in your everyday life. As a woman, I think about how my reproductive rights are being threatened every day. I am also a member of the LGBTQIA community. That is a big part of who I am as a person. Where I live, someone got offended by a rainbow buffalo and thought that "the gays' were in alternating their child. Our mayor was nowhere near our pride celebration. Yet he can back a bigot for Governor. The LGBTQIA community is a part of South Dakota. We pay taxes and have families too. I am lucky to work at a place that I don't have to fear that will fire me. South Dakota does not protect the LGBTQIA community under hate crime laws. Everything we do is political. Choosing not to be political is choosing to go with the status quo. When that rainbow buffalo went down, people questioned. Statements like "Sometimes a rainbow buffalo is just a rainbow buffalo." Maybe so, but that child they would have just seen a rainbow buffalo. Their mother saw it and was consumed with hate for us. Then she got political. Supporters of the buffalo, like myself, were just as political. There is nothing wrong with showing support to a group of people in the community. We pay taxes, have families, shop, love, own homes, and live lives. Being a woman weighs on my mind as well. When I have sex it is told to me that it is my responsibility to make sure that I don't reproduce. Or just don't have sex at all. Before going on, yes I am a member of the LGBTQIA community. No, I am not a lesbian. I am Pansexual. Moving on, so I am told that if I get pregnant I am a slut and need to live with my decision. My right to my body should outweigh the unborn fetus. That very same government that says the fetus is more important than the woman... Does not care about it once it is born. Politics if everything right now. If you don't have to think about it, then you are privileged or just don't know.

Xenophobia

Xenophobia has been a problem in the United States for years, however since the rise of the Zcar Trump. I mean since Trump won the electoral college votes, racism and xenophobia have been more rampant and obvious. Calling out to people "Go back to where you came from." seems to be a chant from the right wing more and more. Let's think here for a moment... Before parts of the United States were settled, every white person was an immigrant. They slaughtered and pushed the Native people out. If killing them by force didn't work, the diseases that they brought over did. Latin American countries did the same thing except it was the Spanish. Most of us are descendants of immigrants. The difference is they were not brown. Tomi Lahren's family history came out and we learned that when some of her family members came over that the did not know how to speak English. Yet she still speaks hate on those who are seeking a better life. There is a problem in this country, and it is not the non-white people. The problem lies in the racism. Has it occurred to anyone that there are Latin people born in this country every day? This is their home too. They have every right to be here.

Dave Rubin and His Toxicity Towards the Left

The "Regressive" Left is a term you can often hear Dave Rubin spouting off. He claim's to be liberal while causing a rift between the Progressives and Liberals. Dave Rubin is the same man who used to spout off Progressive ideals on The Young Turks. So what really changed. During a recent TYT video, It was revealed that Dave Rubin wanted a six-figure salary. Now he is taking funding by one of the Koch brothers. Does Rubin really care about politics or has it always been about the money? As of now, I am leaning towards the money part. He aimlessly lets the right pop off racist and xenophobic ideals while on his show. Then he says that Progressives are not for free speech. Progressives want free speech. That also does not mean that people who are Progressive are going to lay down while someone is shouting out a harmful rhetoric. Dave, what are you seriously doing? You can say something, you are not impeding on free speech. There is still open dialog if you explain that those ideals seem harmful. I am seriously the "Regressive" one?

Transparency In The Media

Lately, there has been something on my mind. Something I have noticed recently when it comes to the media, and news organizations; there does not seem to be a lot of transparency. You have one side stating their agenda, and then you have another side stating theirs. When has this become reality? Each person has their own truths and they look for others to validate that. I am someone who does this as well. The Left speaks to me, and my truths and I want them to be reality. What I am missing is what exactly is the truth. Media has become our own Trojan Horse. For me, I enjoy The Young Turks and slowly, but surely I have come to the realization that even though, I do hold the same ideals and thoughts on morality as they do; there should not be room in news and media for constant bad mouthing of the other side. Sure if they are not upholding decent human rights, then yes say something. The constant slander at one another has gotten to the point where one just spins their own truths. Network news is the most guilty of this. When has Buzzfeed become the site to call out when other news sites should be? What is true anymore?