?LG?B?T?Q Pride (Shame) & Oppression

It is 'Pride' weekend in Birmingham. Will the Hound be going to Pride? No, I will not. Pride (as it now happens, that is) is an actively oppressive event, & the people it oppresses are L?GBTQ people - the only reason I query the G is that I personally identify as queer, which I equate to an anti-assimilation agenda, rather than gay, which I equate (rightly or wrongly, this is only my personal use of these terms) to a pro-assimilation agenda.

I have previously turned my jaundiced eye on 'gay marriage', so now let's get radical about Pride. Pride events started between forty & fifty years as protests or demonstrations against the active oppression of homosexuals. You might think that after this length of time we would have what we wanted. The sad answer to this is that *some* of us have got what they want, others have not.

My criticism of this situation is of course partly informed by bring a witch - I do not feel the need simply to accept as given the institutions & relationships that come down to us from an authority outside ourselves. This is of course an immediate rejection of the way things 'ought' to be, & of the Judaeo-Christian roots of our society, which sees certain things as 'revealed'.

My sexuality also drives me not to buy into the norms of the society in which I find myself. This society will always be hetero-normative - I don't see any mileage to be gained from trying to get away from the majority of sexual life being heterosexual. However I am not heterosexual. I am different.

The danger here is that *some* people of variant sexual or gender identity have bought into (no mistake, that phrase) the mores of heterosexual society. I have also written before about how I see this as a form of internalised self-hatred. The most common manifestation of this is in the pursuit of marriage equality. Quite apart from whether it is desirable to be allowed to enter a hetero-normative Judaeo-Christian institution, LGBTQ people should be warned to be wary of seeing these 'goals' as an achievement or an end. The reality is, equality to heterosexuals in marriage will not mean we have arrived, it will mean we have been reluctantly allowed admission to that institution. Nothing will have changed. The reality is queer bashing will still happen, we will still be actively discriminated against if not married.

It may seem I have got off the subject of Pride, but what I'm trying to highlight here is the element of control that institutions exert over individuals. A major way control is exerted is money - watching where the money's going is always the sure way to see who is really benefiting. A significant gay minority have bought into a position of power & privilege based on financial clout, leaving the majority still discriminated against. For example:

'With further investigation I discovered that IBM, Comcast, and AT&T all sponsored four mainstream gay organizations with Wells Fargo sponsoring five. Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, and Target came next, sponsoring three organizations each. In simple terms, this means the big banks & telecoms bankrolled Gay Inc., having more than a shady hand in their support for gay rights. This resulted in proposals like the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), which doesn�t stop the discrimination of trans. people in workplaces and the repeal of Don�t Ask Don�t Tell instead of ending all LGBTQ discrimination in the military. Let us also not forget that mainstream� organizations refuse to support gay whistleblower, Bradley Manning, possibly because his revelations threaten the bottom line of their sponsors. This is the problem with Gay Inc.�s concocted version of �equality� sponsored by the multinational corporations: it rejects gay liberation.' (http://whiterosereader.org/2013/06/21/insulting-the-1970s-radicals-the-commercialization-of-gay/)

This commercialisation has as its main effect the drawing of the radical tiger's teeth. Pride is so dangerous because an act of radical protest has become an opportunity for the heteros to be entertained, based on the financial clout of biog corporations & an acceptance of 'equality' to heterosexuals rather than a forging of our own identity.

So the question really must be twofold. What is our real pride? - most particularly for those people who support a diversification of marriage law, why do they want to be married? Whose approval are we seeking? And now here's the really tough question: who benefits from Birmingham Pride? I will grant you, a city always benefits from any substantial number of people coming & spending money. But when you actually examine who has the actual power in Birmingham Pride, the answer will not show up to be LGBTQ people. Watch the names that keep cropping up, & where the money goes. That's the way to see where the power really lies, & mark my words it will prove to be the top-heavy pyramid of protection for privilege.

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