Mid-South Pride Comes of Age

Mid-South Pride festival grows » The Commercial Appeal

Memphis "Mid-South Pride" has grown of age with the biggest and best pride parade and festival in the 30 year history of Memphis/Mid-south Pride.  Usually a subdued event held in gay-friendly area of mid-town Memphis, this year's parade was down historic Beale Street in downtown Memphis and was greeted by large crowds.   This year's  Pride Parade & Festival was a big step forward for Memphis and the Memphis LGBT community.

Congrats to Mid-south Pride on such a great job--and do it again next year!

Gays March in Catholic Poland

WARSAW (AFP) – Thousands of gays, lesbians, bisexuals and supporters of equal rights for sexual minorities marched through the streets of Warsaw on Saturday, urging Poland's government to give homosexual partnerships legal status.
But they admitted legislation was not on the cards in the strongly Catholic country, where homosexuality is still a social taboo and relatively few people choose to be openly gay.

Opinion surveys show that 80 percent of Poles oppose gay marriage and 93 percent believe gay and lesbian couples should not have the right to adopt children. Two out of three Poles oppose gay demonstrations.
Saturday's event is the first time the annual Europride parade is being held in an ex-communist state. Last year's march, in Zurich, Switzerland, attracted some 50,000 people.

Obama, White House Celebrate Pride | News | Advocate.com

Obama, White House Celebrate Pride | News | Advocate.com

Socialist Party Statement on Gay Pride

Statement on Gay Pride 2010
by the SPUSA Queer Commission June 9, 2010

On June of 1969 fed up queers fought back when police began harassing them at the Stonewall Inn bar on Sheridan Square in New York City. By most accounts the most oppressed, drag queens and lesbians, lead the charge. This was a flashpoint in a long history of struggle. The homophile movement, the Mattachine Society and the Daughters of Bilitis laid the groundwork for the uprising. Stonewall was also influenced by the feminist movement, the civil rights movement, the sexual revolution, and the struggle against the war in Vietnam.

The first organized group that sprang from the Stonewall Riots was the Gay Liberation Front which was consciously named after the Vietnamese Liberation Front and included socialists, communists, anarchists and other radicals.

The Socialist Party USA stands with Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered, and Questioning people for liberation and full and equal participation in society. LGBTQ people deserve the same rights of marriage as heterosexuals, including the right to adopt children. LGBTQ people who chose to enter the military should have every right to live openly without penalty or harassment, and have every right that their heterosexual peers have.

Gay Power and Gay Liberation were the rallying cries of Stonewall. The Stonewall riots demonstrate the power of resistance and confrontation against injustice. Socialist liberation goes beyond rights and demands full empowerment and participation. The Socialist Party USA celebrates the legacy of Stonewall and the movement for LGBTQ liberation.



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Remember Stonewall: Gay Pride, Gay Power!

It is time for the "gay movement" to rediscover the radical roots of gay liberation. Gay Pride events have largely become commercialized parties. Its time to put "gay power" back in "gay pride"!

Remembering Stonewall
Socialist Party USA, Queer Commission

Peter Tatchell, Our Lost Gay Radicalism

The Gay Rights Movement: 40 Years Since Stonewall

Democracy Now! A Look Back at the Uprising that Launched the Modern Gay Movement

Stonewall Was a Riot: Gay Liberation and the Struggle for Social Change

NYT: Political Shifts on Gay Rights Lag Behind Culture

Frank Rich: 40 Years Later, Still Second-Class Citizens

Mid-South Gay Pride

June is "Gay Pride Month" in most places, we celebrate Mid-South Pride Today in Memphis.

UPDATE: Here Are are some Pics from Mid-South Pride 2009

It was HOT! (Can we move Gay Pride in Memphis to November?)

National Coming Out Day!

It's NATIONAL COMING OUT DAY!

Take YOUR Next Step!

Gay Pride Celebrated Around the World

Gay pride is celebrated by LGBT people around the world this weekend.

California Gays & Lesbians Celebrated their Freedom to Marry in Large Celebrations in S.F.

Quiet Gay Pride Parade in Jerusalem

Not everyone was celebrating:

Bulgarian Skinheads Attack Gay Pride Parade with Molotov Cocktails, 60+Injured

Anti-Gay Activists Attack Czech Gay Parade

Democratic Party's Pride Proclamation

Democratic Party Issues 2008 Pride Proclamation
June 3, 2008
Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean today joined Massachusetts Democratic Representative Barney Frank and Wisconsin Democratic Representative Tammy Baldwin in issuing the following Proclamation marking PRIDE Month:

"Today, on behalf of Democrats across America, we join together in celebrating the contributions that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans and their families make to our society and reaffirm our Party's commitment to promoting full equality under the law for every American.

"As leaders of the Democratic Party, we stand proudly with the LGBT community and commit ourselves to working together to build an America that is truly inclusive. Every American has the right to live in dignity, with equal rights, responsibilities and protections under the law. These are our country's and our Party's core values. Across the country, at every level of government, Democrats have championed sweeping protections in the areas of employment, housing, domestic partnerships and civil unions, adoption, gender identity or expression, and hate crimes.

"Despite all we have accomplished, our work is not done. We need to fight efforts to write discrimination into our laws and constitutions. We need to pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, pass the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Act, and repeal 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell.' We need a comprehensive, science-based strategy for combating HIV/AIDS. We must address the socioeconomic problems, including poverty and limited access to health care, that increase vulnerability to this disease.

"To do all of these things we need to put a Democrat in the White House, expand our majorities in Congress, and elect more Democrats at the local and state level across the country. To do that, we need you. Get active, get involved, and join us so we can take our country back."

See Also:
Barack Obama's Statement On Pride 2008

Obama Endorsed by HRC/Proclaims Support for LGBT Equality

Obama Endorsed by HRC, Vows to Stand Behind LGBT Community
America's largest LGBT advocacy organization has put its support behind Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) in his run for the presidency as he pledges his support for LGBT citizens.

"The Human Rights Campaign has been at the forefront of the fight for GLBT equality and opportunity, and I am proud to have its endorsement," Senator Obama said. "Too often, the issue of GLBT rights is exploited by those seeking to divide us. But at its core, this issue is about who we are as Americans. I look forward to working with HRC to end discrimination against GLBT Americans and to ensure that all of our citizens are treated with dignity and respect."

"HRC is proud to throw our full support behind Senator Obama's presidential campaign," said president Joe Solomonese today. "We have just witnessed a historic primary contest in which two champions of our community demonstrated that they hear our voices and share our dreams. For millions across this country, their candidacies--as the first woman and the first African American to be top contenders for the nomination of a major party--have already been life-changing, inspiring, and groundbreaking.

"They are, quite simply, heroes to anyone fighting for equality."

Senator Obama, while not a supporter of civil marriage for same-sex couples in name, has spoken in support of federal benefits and protections for same-sex couples. He also supports a fully inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act and repealing the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy. Obama, as well, opposes the Federal Marriage Amendment.

"I've been consistently impressed by Senator Obama's willingness to speak about GLBT issues in front of diverse audiences," Solomonese added. "Matters of life and livelihood for GLBT Americans are on the line in this election and after eight years of an anti-gay stranglehold on the presidency, Sen. Obama's message of fairness and acceptance is a breath of fresh air."

Senator Obama also issued an open letter to the LGBT community today, pledging "real change for all LGBT Americans."

"It's wrong to have millions of Americans living as second-class citizens in this nation," he said. The Senator also touted his efforts during his time in the Illinois State Senate to protect LGBT citizens from discrimination, and to equalize federal tax and immigration law for same-sex spouses.

Senator Obama also supports repeal of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as exclusively heterosexual on a federal level. He prefers civil unions with equal benefits, but says he won't stand in the way of the states' choices on how to recognize same-sex spouses. "As your President," Obama said, "I will use the bully pulpit to urge states to treat same-sex couples with full equality in their family and adoption laws."

Full text of the statement and other LGBT resourses, visit Obama's LGBT website

Obama Makes Historic Gay Ad Buy

The Advocate reports that Barack Obama Makes Gay Ad Buy in Ohio and Texas

It is historic because it is the first time a major presidential candidate has purchased ads targeting the LGBT community. Wouldn't it make a nice poster!

Gay Pride in North America

Several major cities in North America celebrated Gay Pride this weekend, from Toronto to Mexico City. I sometimes have mixed feellings about all the resources the gay community throws into gay pride celebrations, but it is amazing how "gay pride" unites so many people from around the world. I can't think of another social group or movement with that much world-wide unity on a common identity. The big political news in the U.S. is that the wife of Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, Elizabeth Edwards, came out in support of gay marriage at a Pride Breakfast in San Francisco, taking a position at odds with her husband John Edwards who stops just short of gay marriage.

Mid-South Pride

Here I am with my Impeach Bush sign at the start of the Mid-South Pride parade Sunday. It was a good day, Mid-South Pride has been improving each year it has taken over Memphis Pride. It was encouraging see a few Democratic candidates at the Pride Festival. State Senator Beverly Marrero and Jeanne Richardson, the candidate to replace her in the TN House (Dist. 89) spoke, as did Herman Morris, candidate for Memphis Mayr. Morris seemed pretty supportive of equal rights for LGBT people, and any candidate who speaks in favor of "lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender" rights deserves our support. But where were the other candidates ???