by Becca Shaw Glaser June 14, 2022, The Free Press

Last weekend I grabbed my purple wig, squeezed into a black-and-white polka dot party dress and my favorite zebra-striped tights (which are full of holes and barely stay up), and drove to Belfast to spill my pandemic-exhausted-officially-middle-aged body into a park by the harbor where dozens of people were draped in rainbow flags, trans flags, intersex-inclusive pride flags, rainbow hats, buttons, leis, shoes, and leg warmers, black t-shirts, jeans, purple corduroys and whatever else they happened to feel like wearing to the Belfast Pride Parade that day. Shiny rainbow streamers flickered above a table covered in slices of chocolate cake with rainbow frosting free for the taking. And in the trash nearby I saw a plastic cup with partly-eaten rainbow-striped jello layers. There were people of all ages – a pair of elders in K95s, one gripped a cane, wore shirts that said, in rainbow lettering, “PROUD MOM,” and, “PROUD DAD.” But overall, it felt to me like it was mostly young people in the park — the vibrant rising up of youth — so many teens (the primary organizers of Belfast Pride this year), pre-teens, and little kids too. 

I felt my heart light up and glow for all the beauty and camaraderie and survival around me, for the history of it, the long and constant struggle for queer human rights we’re still inside of, and for the exquisiteness, the brittleness, the rarity of having a space and place where people can feel accepted and loved for being exactly who they are, and no less. And also, I cried. Which is, I’m a crier in general, but there’s something about this moment. This moment where, running into my friend at Pride, each of us said that as we got ready to attend it had crossed our minds that we could be killed that day. Pride, coming out, the struggle for change, has always carried risk. But there’s something about being in public gatherings right now and the grotesque availability of AR-15s that feels particularly, viscerally frightening. The politicians who continue to vote against any and all substantive restrictions on weaponry don’t believe they are choosing guns over children, of course, but why do they keep choosing endless weaponry over expanding access to child care, paid parental leave, health care for all?

And I cried for this moment where the leaders of the right wing and the Republican Party are taking dead aim at queer youths’ lives. In this thrilling moment where so many young people are bubbling up with exciting, joyous, and creative explorations of gender, the right wing has made a calculated decision to aim their poison and lies specifically at trans and gender non-binary youth. They don’t care how many young people they wound, or how many die of society-sponsored suicide, as long as they can keep distracting their followers from the real issues in order to maintain and increase their power.

I watch as many Mainers are suddenly jumping onto this anti-queer, anti-trans, pearl-clutching, moralizing bandwagon, using words like “grooming” and expressing antiquated ideas about what school should include. These are often well-meaning people who are being tricked into thinking that somehow trans and non-binary children (who are among the most vulnerable people in the world) are a personal threat to them, to their idea of how the world should be. Well, in some ways, queerness in a heteronormative capitalist imperialistic oligarchic patriarchy has always been a threat to the status quo. But these are children, these are teens. How can anyone think it’s OK to deny them their right to live robust, joyful, well-informed, authentic lives?

But let’s go back to the celebration!: I saw a little kid in a giant lime green helmet carrying a small rainbow flag; I saw a teen with a rainbow checkered hat and black tank top that said “PROUD AF” over a rainbow; I saw signs: “I <3 MY TWO DADS,” “PROTECT TRANS KIDS,” “WE ARE HUMAN,” “Creating a World of Acceptance and Love,” “QUEER MAGIC” (which, zooming in on the photo I took, I later realized included a drawing of a Hitachi Magic Wand (a longtime, rather close friend of mine)). I saw a sign laying on the grass that said, “TRANS WOMEN OF COLOR STARTED PRIDE” – which is (generally) accurate, though deserves more nuance than a sign can offer, and which is to say: for too long, much of the gay rights movement tried to toss out trans and gender non-binary people in order to try to better appeal to the hetero-normal establishment; for too long, some of the most well-funded elements of the queer rights movement were focused on gaining rights via marriage (such as health care benefits) rather than developing a class consciousness that said that absolutely everyone should have excellent health care regardless of marriage, and for too long, many of the faces floated for “gay rights” were designed to appeal to middle-class white norms. 

The original Gay Freedom/Gay Liberation Marches (the 1970s precursors to what later became known as Pride), most definitely did not start out supported by Bank of America, whose corporate presence was making the rounds at Belfast Pride via people clad in rainbow-logoed Bank of America shirts cheerily handing out Bank of America “Pride” fans. Some consider the corporatization of Pride and queer rights to be tremendous progress; others consider it antithetical to the many early queer and trans radicals who struggled not in hopes of merely securing a spot in a society that remained drastically unequal, but with dreams of thoroughly rebuilding it to be free and equal for everyone. Still others believe there is value and protection offered via both approaches, that they can coexist.

Belfast Pride was heartwarming, wonderful, varied, hopeful and welcoming, a true community event. I encourage you to go to an upcoming Maine Pride (listed at https://outmaine.org/support/pride/). Everyone is always welcome. You might find me at Pride in Bucksport on the 18th, though I don’t know what I’m going to wear yet. 

Decades ago, Becca worked for Love Makes a Family, an organization supporting LGBTQIA+-headed families, in Portland, Oregon. More recently, she had the honor of proofreading the 20th anniversary edition of Leslie Feinberg’s groundbreaking book, Stone Butch Blues, available at https://www.lesliefeinberg.net/