Gay Pride: A Personal View

I have to admit that I have never really been interested in what people call "Gay Pride". I've never understood it. I don't think my personal homosexuality has been a choice. The idea that we should be proud of some characteristic that isn't a choice seems a little inconsistent and hypocritical to me. How can gay pride be legitimate and reasonable when white pride is known to be hate-mongering? If I say I am proud to be gay, where does that leave the non-gay? I have long questioned the rationale behind gay-pride.
But I stumbled upon the well-referenced Wikipedia article about the Stonewall Riots recently. If you have a chance to visit the page, it paints an excellent picture of the events that unfolded in the middle of the past century.
Before reading the article and its references, I had no idea that there was actually a time in America when law enforcement could arrest people simply under suspicion of being gay. Not only were law enforcement empowered to make these arrests, they frequently exercised that power, systematically arresting untold numbers of gays while ignoring the mafia bosses that owned and operated the gay bars they were raiding. The police were accepting money in exchange for turning a blind eye to the organized crime that was exploding in New York City.
The first Gay Pride Parade was a declaration of equality under the law. Gays took to the streets of New York City at the risk of being arrested, simply because they were gay.
This gave the idea of gay pride a completely new meaning to me. I had no idea that there was actually a time in our country when a person could and likely would be arrested for being gay. To this day, nearly half a decade later, we continue to struggle for equality under the law. It frightened me to think how close we are to those days when gay bars were raided like crack houses, and men were by law banned from wearing women's clothing.
There's a great story from the Stonewall Riots about a blockade of police marching toward a group of gays and transvestites. The police are waving their clubs in the air when the crowd before them starts mockingly saluting and marching, and slowly break into a chorus line kicking routine while the police continue waving their clubs in the air.
The imagery provided paints an unforgettable picture of the state enforcing gender roles. It made me think about the modern anti-gay marriage campaigns and the statement they make about the equality of heterosexual gender roles. How, after all, can men and women be equal if they aren't allowed to make the same choices in who they marry? I've long felt the homosexual movement was a gender equality issue, not a sexual orientation issue. The history of the Stonewall Riots helped me better understand the nature of gender conflict in this country. I hope you'll take the time to visit the Wikipedia page and read on to other sources as well.