I was thinking about how it is interesting that the celebrations use the term "pride". Traditionally, pride is not just one of the seven deadly sins, but the original and most serious of the sins. It is the sin that caused Satan to be cast into hell. But it's funny because the pride that the religious accounts talk about don't sound much like what I saw today.
From wikipedia:
pride (Latin, superbia), or hubris (Greek), is considered the original and most serious of the seven deadly sins, and the source of the others. It is identified as a desire to be more important or attractive than others, failing to acknowledge the good work of others, and excessive love of self (especially holding self out of proper position toward God). Dante's definition was "love of self perverted to hatred and contempt for one's neighbour"
The people I met today don't want to be more important than other people. They just want to exist safely outside of the closet. They want to walk down the street with their partner holding hands and not afraid of being attacked. They want to have a picture of their significant other on their desk without being afraid that it will get them fired. That isn't being more important.
Failing to acknowledge good work of others? Gay pride festivals still feature drag queens prominently because they were the ones who fought back at Stonewall. The community is welcoming to allies. Many in the community are concerned about other social issues and work to bring attention to these issues. They aren't perfect, of course. And there has been a lot of conversations about the treatment of transgender issues within the larger gay community (mostly, a feeling that the issues of transgender rights are on the backburner), but those conversations are happening. I don't think that the gay community is guilty of this type of pride.
Excessive love of self? Not as a group. Oh, there may be people guilty of this (in any group) but the gay community is not selfish. They love their partners. Their families. Their community. Every volunteer group I've been a part of has had a larger percentage of GLBT folk than statistics would suggest. They are a community that is very involved with giving back.
Now, I know that Pride was a term adopted to help convey that people should not be ashamed of their sexual orientation or gender identity. Have pride in yourself for who you are. But that pride was just trying to replace the shame and condemnation that society heaped on the community for so long. Much like "Black Power" was a way to give back the power taken away by society "Gay Pride" was about saying that it was okay to be yourself. You know, all those thing Lady Ga Ga sings about.
The strange thing is that you still occasionally hear homophobes who will, in their own way, accuse the GLBT community of being prideful. They say that being able to marry your partner is a shoving your lifestyle in their face. Or that not being fired because your sex and gender are different is a special right. They say that the gay community should just go back in the closet so that some small minded straight people don't have to deal with it.
And yet, it is those very people who seem to best meet Dante's definition of pride: "love of self perverted to hatred and contempt for one's neighbour". The bigots and hypocrites of the right aren't the perfect example of that definition. They are so in love with their faith, in their interpretation of the bible, and with their heterosexuality that it has made them hate their neighbors who don't conform to those things.
The gays may have the pride, but it is their detractors who are being prideful.
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