Marriage, Diet Coke, mayoral elections: Gay Pride's changing face

What is the point of an LGBT Pride march at least in a city like New York anymore? The Pride march in New York winds past cheering crowds, ultimately ending up near Stonewall Bar. In 1969, members of the gay community fought back against a police raid on the bar. The first Gay Pride marches in Los Angeles, Chicago and New York commemorated the anniversary of those riots. At this year’s Pride march in New York on Sunday, some of the original marchers from June 28, 1970 were there in front of a black and white Gay Liberation Front banner. But times had clearly changed. The mood was clearly about celebration rather than liberation. Even the police, the same NYPD that had once cracked down on Stonewall bar, were marching in the parade, with trumpets and horns and drums. They drew loud cheers. [caption id=“attachment_919655” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Couple after couple walked past bearing their marital status like a flag of honour, a certificate of legitimacy. Sandip Roy[/caption] But the motif of the day, unsurprisingly, was about marriage. Marchers wore masks of the Supreme Court justices who had ruled the Defence of Marriage Act unconstitutional. Couple after couple walked past bearing their marital status like a flag of honour, a certificate of legitimacy. One read “Just Married”. Another were the first couple to have been married in New York state. Another claimed to be the first couple married in New York City. Marriage. Children. Pets. If it were not for the Latina transsexuals in great feathery headdresses like exotic parrots, it could have been the great parade of middleclass respectability. One almost expected the dancing boys on the Wells Fargo Bank float to start handing out mortgage applications for same-sex couples. And where middleclass respectability comes, can politicians be far behind? With mayoral elections in New York coming up soon, every New York mayoral candidate seemed to be there, walking the streets, wearing a rainbow necklace, shaking hands with bystanders. Anthony Wiener, John Liu, Reshma Saujani. The biggest contingent belonged to Christine Quinn, an out lesbian. Create history by electing her shouted her supporters. It would be historic but only here. Paris has already had a gay mayor. As has Berlin. Even Houston, Texas. [caption id=“attachment_919659” align=“alignright” width=“300”]  Is Pride Fest just about overpriced fries and beer? Sandip Roy[/caption] Politicians like Senator Chuck Schumer seemed to be falling over each other to show their support for marriage equality which these days seems to have become synonymous with the gay movement. Which begs the question, as same-sex marriage becomes a reality, does the march for rights become little more than a parade of floats from banks, insurance companies, diet sodas and airlines? Is Pride Fest just about overpriced fries and beer? Bystander jockeyed with each other to grab rainbow necklaces being thrown into the crowd by marchers. They all bore the logo of a bank. The parade monitors wore t-shirts proclaiming the sponsorship of Diet Coke. I only saw one grey-haired marcher passing out leaflets in support of Bradley Manning, the queer soldier being court-martialled for allegedly passing on classified materials to Wikileaks. Public Enemy Number One for the marchers seemed to be a foreigner - Vladimir Putin whose government is cracking down on homosexuals. Strangely, it was the Soviet Union’s crackdown on homosexuals that led to the foundation of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission years ago. Now on this issue at least Moscow seems to be heading back to square one. Soon, unfettered by the marriage issue, chances are the Log Cabin Republicans, the gay Republicans will have a big marching contingent as well. It won’t be a political embarrassment to call yourself both gay and a Republican as marriage becomes an accepted fact. In Kolkata this weekend there will be a march as well. If it was anything like last year, it will be boisterous and colourful. A smattering of film stars might show up to lend their support. But there won’t be any floats from ICICI bank or Indigo Airlines. Yet. And that perhaps is not such a bad thing. As Pawan Dhall, long time organizer in Kolkata points out in Kindle magazine : It ultimately depends on whether for you, being gay means merely being in a same-sex relationship or whether you regard your location in society politically and identify with others oppressed by the same structures that hold you down. Oddly, the spirit of the march in Kolkata, in an India which is still awaiting a court ruling on the repeal of Section 377, might still have more in common with the original Stonewall marches all these parades around the world commemorate.