 |
2012 Pride for the TriCities and Surrounding Mid-Columbia RegionIt's All About Family |
|
We celebrate our Sixth Annual Pride this year. Pride is an international tradition. Pride celebrations began as an annual celebration of the Stonewall Riots. The Stonewall Riots started on June 28, 1969, in New York City. Like most cities in the U.S., there were many laws discriminating against lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgender individuals. These laws include prohibitions of serving alcohol to anyone who was a homosexual and the requirement to wear at least three articles of clothing that matched your gender/sex. These laws led to rampant abuses of police power. Many members of the LGBT community were brutalized by police. Arrests were also published in papers, an outing which destroyed the lives of LGBT people who were able to be legally fired for being gay (which is still true today in most cities and states in the nation). To learn more about Stonewall and Pride Celebrations, check out the PBS special Stonewall Uprising. Here in Eastern Washington, the LGBT community continues to grow and increase in its visibility. LGBT people have been living in the TriCities and surrounding cities for as long as the TriCities has existed. In recent years, due in large part to the Vista Youth Center, the Diversity Pride Center, and PFLAG, support for LGBT people in our community has grown. This is allowing greater numbers of LGBT people to live open and honest lives. Our Pride Celebration is a celebration of our connection to a broader movement and a recognition that for many people in this area, being out is an act of bravery. The 2012 theme is "It's All About Family." Family is a major theme for 2012 as the citizens of Washington State will likely be facing the decision about whether to repeal the Marriage Equality Law passed by the Legislature and signed by the Governor in February 2012. Family takes many forms, regardless of government recognition. The U.S. Census starting capturing some of this information beginning in 2000. What studies find is that in places outside metropolitan cities, LGBT couples raise families in a larger percentage than their metropolitan peers. Thus, our theme for 2012, encompasses our hope that our families will receive the same recognition and that we will live in a state where we know our neighbors, our friends, and our family support us; while also capturing our reality that family is more than the word "marriage" and regardless of the political climate we will continue to love and nurture our families, and we will continue to be supported by many members of our community.
|