PRIDE
What have you done today to make you feel proud?
This weekend is the FM Pride celebration. Rainbow flags will line Broadway in downtown Fargo. There will be a 5K Pride Run/Walk, karaoke, bowling, a picnic in the park, a parade, and a rally. We won’t have millions of people as they do at the Minneapolis, or other big city Pride celebrations, but we will have hundreds. There will be citizens of our twin cities out and about celebrating this year’s strides forward in the movement for equality for every citizen. I will be PROUD. But, it will be much more than just that.
Pride celebrations used to be a horrific idea to me. The thought that someone might see me there! Or the thought that I could get caught on TV during the coverage–horrific ideas that I once carried. I was afraid of Pride. I was afraid of being outed. Now, well, I’ve led the dykes on bikes on my Harley, proudly displaying the rainbow flag on my bike, and wearing my rainbow suspenders. But really, what is it all about? Why am I blogging? It is about being normal. It is about being able to ride as a dyke on a bike and nobody caring what is riding, but WHO. It is about walking hand in hand and arm in arm with my partner and with others who know that really, it is all about love!! IT is about LOVE, people!
Pride Parade
As Unitarian Universalists, we BELIEVE in “the worth and dignity of each human being. All people on earth have equal claim to life, liberty and justice — and no idea, ideal, or philosophy is superior to a single human life.” I believe that is what our PRIDE celebrations are trying to say. Be proud we are human. Treat each other with dignity and respect. Love each other.
My hope is that one day, there will be PRIDE celebrations that focus on love, kindness, and gratitude for everyone. Having pride in the human race as one part of a very big universe — celebrating our sameness as well as our individuality, and not only because we are gay, bi, lesbian, or transgendered. Just that we are a happy bunch of people.
See you at the picnic in the park, the interfaith service on Sunday, and the parade that afternoon.
HAPPY PRIDE!