Track 9: Pride

It's Pride weekend and I got a reminder as to why I don't support it. I went out to WeHo and of course it was decked out for Pride. With all the clones i and the "fabulousness" that's spilling onto the streets, one would think that it's a time to be happy and be, well, proud. But at the same time is so heavily segregated racially. I felt very much out of place. Granted, this isn't specific to pride but just how the gay community works on any other weekend but I think Pride amplifies it to the fifth power. It also doesn't help that on this weekend places like Here, a typical bar with overpriced drinks, was charging cover. So you mean to tell me I have to wait in line for 15 minutes and then have to pay to get inside your crummy bar that doesn't have anything new in it despite it being a big celebratory day? It's such a small venue there's not enough space to really dance. And half the bar is outside so people are smoking nonstop there.

I can't celebrate gay male whiteness. Or even a particular kind of gay male whiteness which is distributed widely and told is the ideal that we all want to have or achieve to be. It's something most of us can't be and I don't want to be that way anyway. Why do I have to suffer because my hair texture is the way it is and I have a natural tan. I want to see more people like me represented properly in the queer community, instead of being relegated to a fetish status or a backup to the white Apollo.

I'm sure one of the first thoughts someone will have reading this is "Micah, you think about race too much. Maybe you're not comfortable with being black." No, that couldn't be farther from the truth. I'm just tired of this system. And I think it's hard to know where I'm coming from unless you're a queer person of color. We all share this struggle but it's something that is so easily glanced over. And on top of this, it doesn't help that our queer white brethren tell us to let this go to fight for other parts of equality like marriage, which inherently benefits them more than us. So in the end we get the short of the stick. And I honestly am ready to let go of it.