Saturday, June 13, 2015

Have a little pride ...

I stole these schedule posters for Capital City Pride, underway this weekend in Des Moines, from my Facebook friend Evan Anderson. I'm far too old and, these days, far too anti-social to be there, but it looks like fun in the East Village.

Besides, if it stops raining long enough, there's ankle-length grass in the back 40 to deal with.

June is, for those who notice such things, LGBT Pride Month --- an annual observance positioned here in the calendar to commemorate the Stonewall Uprising of 1969. President Obama declared it such this way:

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim June 2015 as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month. I call upon the people of the United States to eliminate prejudice everywhere it exists, and to celebrate the great diversity of the American people.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-ninth day of May, in the year of our Lord two thousand fifteen, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-ninth.

Who'd have thought back in 1969 --- a year I remember distinctly; then engaged in basic training at beautiful Fort Polk, Louisiana --- that one day a president would make such a declaration.

The occasional "Straight Pride" posting still pops up  in social media and elsewhere in response --- and that's fine, although ...

... declaring your "Straight Pride," if you are straight, is akin to declaring your "White Pride" just because you're in the majority, not black, brown, red, yellow or any other color of humanity's vast rainbow.

Everyone should take pride in himself or herself (with a substantial dose of humility, too, of course). And the rules are the same, gay or straight: Live honestly and honorably, make an effort to understand what you don't, speak your mind but don't scream --- and be kind.

Happy pride! 

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