(Action Idaho) Pres. Barack Obama designated June to be LGBT Pride Month month in 2011, though Gay Pride Month had been around since 2000 when Bill Clinton established it.
Obama’s celebratory announcement contains all of the ambiguities and pieties that still govern the public presentation of LGBTQ+ Pride Month. On one hand, Pride advocates insist that Pride Month, Pride shows in the park, the parades, the story hours in the library, the dirty books for children are just about cultivating safety and supportive environments. On the other hand, the events point toward revolutionary change in what sex is and in what human beings are said to be.
This move from safety to celebration has been underway for decades. It is a deliberate rhetorical strategy from queer advocates. Kevin Jennings, founder of the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), delivered a speech to gay activists on March 5, 1995 laying out the strategy: (Read More)