Last weekend was San Diego’s Gay Pride weekend. I wasn’t in town for the actual hoopla, but during the week leading up to the big event, my daughter the Mini-Pirate and I watched as the city draped itself in rainbows. It was all very colorful and jubilant and pride-alicious.
As we drove home from the grocery store, my daughter said, “Wow, look at that one house. It’s got, like, ten rainbow flags.”
“Yep, pretty festive,” I replied.
“That house is super proud to be gay, isn’t it?” she said. Heh.
“I believe it is.”
“That’s cool.”
She paused, and then asked, “So… what’s Gay Pride actually about again?”
We’d talked briefly before about what the flags mean, and why the gay community has appropriated the rainbow, copyrighted it, trademarked it, and now uses its many colors as a symbol for embracing diversity. But I hadn’t really gotten into the whole idea of why Gay Pride events exist in the first place. Or rather, we hadn’t discussed why such a commemoration is necessary. As she’s slowly become more attuned to the idea of gay people in the world, and the notion that her father (that would be me) is one of those people, I’ve tried to navigate her down a particular path with care: all along, I’ve wanted her to get the idea that gay people are just like straight people in most ways. That there’s really nothing special or unique about being gay. Gay people in our society are no different than straight people at all.
But the fact is, that’s not really true, is it?
***
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“Yep, pretty festive,” I replied.
“That house is super proud to be gay, isn’t it?” she said. Heh.
“I believe it is.”
“That’s cool.”
She paused, and then asked, “So… what’s Gay Pride actually about again?”
We’d talked briefly before about what the flags mean, and why the gay community has appropriated the rainbow, copyrighted it, trademarked it, and now uses its many colors as a symbol for embracing diversity. But I hadn’t really gotten into the whole idea of why Gay Pride events exist in the first place. Or rather, we hadn’t discussed why such a commemoration is necessary. As she’s slowly become more attuned to the idea of gay people in the world, and the notion that her father (that would be me) is one of those people, I’ve tried to navigate her down a particular path with care: all along, I’ve wanted her to get the idea that gay people are just like straight people in most ways. That there’s really nothing special or unique about being gay. Gay people in our society are no different than straight people at all.
But the fact is, that’s not really true, is it?
***
Click here to hop over and read the rest.
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Pirate, I miss you! How goes it? Hope to hear a new blog post soon!
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