On June 16, 2023, in the midst of Pride Month celebrations across the world, one of Britain’s prominent newscaster and journalist, Piers Morgan, while moderating a debate between LGBTQ+ activist, James Barr and conservative political commentator, Tomi Lahren, asked a question which, according to his judgement and critical analysis, was an essential question for current political circumstances, “Where’s My STRAIGHT Flag?!” Piers Morgan’s question, due to its sensationalistic nature and absence of any intellectuality was adored by the straight, conservative internet audience. Sadly, observing the debate made a compelling case to my consciousness to answer about the legitimacy, sincerity, and significance of the pride flag from my perspective.
During the 1950s and 1960s in the United States, the pervasive influence of McCarthyism permeated the corridors of government, homosexuality was classified as a mental disorder, and the US State Department deemed LGBTQ+ individuals as un-American on the basis of their potential vulnerability to blackmail. Consequently, individuals identifying as gay endured harrowing ordeals involving mental and physical torment, systemic persecution, and categorisation as “deviant,” even within a nation that proclaimed itself as a bastion of liberty and justice. The occurrence of police brutality in Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village became the last nail in the coffin of bottled up tolerance of torture which LGBTQ+ people of the time had endured, leading to the Stonewall Uprising, and a revolutionary series of gay liberation movements, all leading down to today – Pride Month 2023.
This victory of cultural progressivism in modern society is traced back to a series of unfortunate events, which LGBTQ+ individuals have had to go through around the globe. Several nations till date enforce the death penalty on individuals for consensual homosexual acts, such as Iran, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE. Stoning is still considered a viable form of punishment for the existence of homosexual people in several countries, and while equal rights are still a pipe dream, for many LGBTQ+ people out there, basic rights such as adoption and marriage are not available, even in the global north.
So, why pride? Centuries of modern human history have clearly indicated that despite the rising tide of acceptance, society has been severely resistant towards this group of people for no other reason than who they innately are. From detestation to dejection, inequity to injustice, from torture to murder, human civilisation has comprehensibly demonstrated the disdain it has for us. Despite this, we take pride. Modern academia and research has greatly furthered the cause of LGBTQ+ people. From historicising the presence of homosexuality, to the construction of queer theory and differentiation between biological sex and gender, it has substantially helped the cause of equality, but that is not solely what pride rests upon.
I believe pride rests not only upon our history but also our contemporary existence. It rests upon our insistence to live, and live the same lives as those of our loved ones, for we did not choose to be who we are, and we are proud of what we are. Our pride exists in our ability to love and have erotic emotions for individuals in open disregard to societal conformations, and theological regulations. I am proud, for I am indifferent towards what He says in the Book of Leviticus, and I am proud for I love people for who they are, and not what they are. But that is not all. I am proud, because I have survived, and so has everyone like me. I am proud because while I was being suffocated with the fraternity of the pitiful modern society, I survived and was able to hide my truth from them for years, and I am proud that when I did not hide anymore, I was able to look them in the eye, and able to tell them that it is not their acceptance which I seek, but rather their contempt which I count on, as a motivator for me to thrive upon.
Like many revolutions across the world, Stonewall was also unable to accomplish everything it sought to achieve, in the United States and around the world. Yet, a legacy was created. A legacy of love and inclusion, a legacy of joy and warmth, and intimacy and endearment and devotion to oneself and one’s true identity. Pride Month – officially gaining its legitimate status after liberal Democrat President Bill Clinton declared “the anniversary of Stonewall every June in America as Gay and Lesbian Pride Month”. Since then, more and more communities have found the voice of their protest inside the shadow of the Pride movement, making Pride a breath of relief in a world of suffocation for millions.
So, why does Piers Morgan and his support group of hatred not get a straight flag? The answer is they do, but that flag will never carry the history of blood which our Pride flag carries. That flag will not represent the feeling of emptiness one feels from being legally forbidden to marry the person they love and will never recognise the sentiment of choking on their own tears when they are sitting in a room of people debating on his right to exist. That flag will not understand the sensation of asphyxiation one suffers from hiding themselves trying to understand the dis-functionality inside themselves, for which they are hated. The Pride flag is not just a flag of celebration, it is a retrospection of our past, and an encouragement for our future, which, despite hindrances, will bring forth a brighter age than ever before.
To quote the writer, James Baldwin, “Love him and let him love you. Do you think anything else under heaven really matters?” In conclusion, I believe that it is I who love, and I who am loved. It does not matter whether we are accepted. Our commitment to the deadly sin of pride rests on our past laurels of affirmation and inclusion towards everyone, and that is all that matters.
Edited by Amirtha Varshini V C
Article 19 