Reflections on Pride
by Matt | June 27th, 2007 |Kevin Jennings, the Executive Director of the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), writes a reflection on his first Pride experience:
I couldn’t help but think back to 1986 and my first time marching in the Boston Gay Pride Parade, at age 23. My excitement and nervousness was palpable. My Harvard classmate Trey Woods, one of the most impossibly handsome men who ever walked the planet, showed up in khakis and a button down, so completely overdressed it was almost laughable. We were young and we would conquer the world. Well, Trey died of AIDS in 1995 and I am not so young anymore. But today, I felt like we had indeed conquered the world. If only for a day.
I remember my first Pride. I was a freshman at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 2004. Down in Durham, NC, on and around the campus of Duke University, the North Carolina Pride Festival takes place in either late September or early October (it is way to hot down here in the South for us to have it in June; those folks in Atlanta are crazy!)
I had never been a place where, at least for the day, people committed to equality just like me were in the majority. It was empowering… it was Pride. I was with UNCG PRIDE! and we marched in the parade and saw all the vendors. The experience was one I’ll always remember.
NC Pride has become, at least for me, more and more like a “public appearance,” though. Over the past few years, some of the fun has gone out of it. It is still fun to walk around and see the vendors and march in the parade, but it just seems to be the same thing every year. Needless to say, I go more for chatting with LGBT leaders around the state, than I do for anything else.
My first Pride experience was nothing like Jennings’, however, and I’ve only been to one big Pride. That was Capital Pride in Washington, DC, last summer. Maybe one of these days I’ll get to Atlanta or New York City’s festivals.
Technorati Tags: gay, pride, atlanta, new york city, north carolina, durham, duke, lgbt
Matt, 22, is an LGBT journalist, activist and youth advocate currently living and working in Charlotte, N.C. A native of Winston-Salem, N.C., Matt attended the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and is still continuing to pursue his bachelors degree. He is the Owner & Editor of InterstateQ.com and has been active in LGBT advocacy work since the age of 14.
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