Why Pride?

    One of my facebook friends posted a piece that advocates a straight pride day! The piece contained a statement "Apparently it is now intolerant and bigoted to be straight and proud in the upside down , politically correct society we live in." The proposition made me think for all of one second.

    He was directing his comment toward all the Pride parades at this time of year.

    So why Pride parades?

     I was a middle school teacher for 37 years. Some people think you have to be crazy to teach middle school kids. They are referred to as hormones at times.

     So where am I trying to go with this. Puberty kicks in. Boys develop an amazing interest in girls. I don't know about girls!!! Probably the same thing happens.

     But for a small group of kids puberty is an absolutely horrible nightmare. They know how things are supposed to work but it's not happening. Gay and lesbian kids cannot understand why they are attracted to the same sex. They become confused anxious and angry. This is something they cannot talk to others about. They are living a secret life. They feel lost . They see all kinds of  bashing those who are gay or lesbian. They are not comfortable in sharing this with family. They are cut off. They are scared.

    So with this situation support is needed . One way of support then is to have a huge parade.

    Straight people have the whole society set up to support them. The world is made for straight people.

    Now I retired 19 years ago. We were limited in what counselling could be done or people would accuse us of ,"making their kids gay." At that time gay and lesbian kids had no support from the school and definitely not from home..  Today it's different . The shoe is on the other foot and kids can be supported. Kids can be counselled. They get to understand their sexual orientation early and can make decisions based on what they know. Some of the problems they face are less severe.

     So in my teaching experience some of the most troubled kids were gay and lesbian kids who had nowhere to turn in their turmoil.

    One student wrote me that no matter what he did in school all the kids taunted him as gay. he said he date a girl and they'd still call him gay. He said at age five he knew something was different. Being a bright kid he knew what his situation was but still did not know how to handle things.
 
    One of the best books I read recently was "All Out: a father and son confront the hard truth" by Kevin Newman and Alex Newman. It's a very good read.

     So pride parades do have an important place in today's world.