Prada, Parades, and Pride
The sociopolitical climate of the United States in the late 1960’s was not one of tolerance, especially towards those in the LGBTQ community. Leading up to 1969, transgender and queer people faced disproportionate police attention and brutality. They were targeted and even arrested for crossdressing. Laws discriminated against sexual acts or marriage between people of the same gender. This all set the stage for the Stonewall riots on June 28, 1969 when police raided an inn in Greenwich Village where local members of the LGBTQ community would gather. This incident sparked spontaneous riots for days and inspired the first pride parade in New York City. This would mark the beginning of an annual commemoration to the trials of the LGBTQ community which we continue to carry on. The purpose of the display of camp, promiscuous dress attire at the Pride Parade has been to flip the dichotomy between things public and private to bring visibility to the queer community ever since its debut in 1970.
To begin my investigation, I looked at images from pride parades throughout the years to examine the general presentation of LGBTQ members during the march. In the early years, newspapers would comment on men wearing lipstick and dresses. In one newspaper article which covered the first official pride parade, a participant commented to the journalist that they had to step out of the closet and out of the “shelter of anonymity (Edelman 1970).” This article would be valuable in supporting my thesis if I were to further develop this research study because it provides a first hand account on the opinion of an active participant from early parades and proves that attire was chosen with purpose given that being unmistakable queer was clearly on the agenda. Images from the first parade display many people stripped down to undergarments while parades in later years include a display of plastic nudity and genitalia themed decor. A secondary article, “Queering Laughter in the Stockholm Parade,” author Anna Lunberg goes on to elaborate on the bold display of “sexuality and the sexed body”(Lunberg 2007). She explains that the parade is th pinnacle point where politics meets matters with are considered “deeply private and intimate” and so the purpose of these seemingly sexual displays is to flip the modern dichotomy of public and private and bring the conversation of sex and queerness to the surface. She also applies the concept of “carnival theory” which I found really interesting and think would be worth exploring more deeply if I were to extend my research. She talks about laughter being “all inclusive.” This could play further into an explanation for how the dress attire of pride parades helped obtain the hearts and minds of the public throughout the years. The carnival culture, festivity, and laughs shared around the parade are not exclusive to only queer people and likely helped to make the movement more digestible for non members. If I were to extend this project, I would want to study what carnival theory is more deeply and how it ties in to queer theory, another key term that I picked up from thai secondary source.
In almost all photos of pride parades - old and new - one will observe that the event looks festive and fun. While some argue that the festivity of it helps to create an inclusive environment and gain favor of non LGBTQ people, others see it differently. In an article “Pride Parades: How a Parade Changed the World: A Review,” Jonathan Ocley explores different arguments over the effectiveness and purpose of the parades (Ocley 2016). I found this article really useful because of its comparison of multiple perspectives. A common question that arises around the parade is the purpose: is it aimed to change policy, culture, or just party? Katherine Bruce’s research in the article seems to take on the understanding that the parade is more a cultural contestestation than a political convention. She believes that the purpose of the parade is to challenge the heteronormative code through defiant and educational forms of visibility. She argues it's a form of social movement which aims to “bypass the state and facilitate cultural change,” as a means of facilitating political change. This article shed light on the idea of “educational visibility” as well where LGBTQ people try to show that though their sexuality may be different from their peers, they are still regular people with jobs and education. In my research, I found that a lot of parades actually didn’t include the promiscuous dress attire that was popularized in parades of larger, urban cities. Parades, in fact, varied greatly across the nation and reflected a lot about the tolerance and resources given by local communities. LGBTQ people often adapted their parades to their areas. Smaller towns were much less likely to have large parades as they typically had much less support from their communities. In places like Austin, TX, LGBTQ people claim their title but otherwise do not diverge too much from the norms and keep sexual displays to a minimum because they are still trying to be accepted by the wider community (Lundberg 2007). I’m left wondering if the parade has been damaging to the community by reinforcing stereotypes of queer people and the divide between their culture and the “normal heteronormative culture.” To deepen my research and answer this question, I would like to look more into news coverage of pride parades in southern, conservative states. I think it’d be really valuable to examine the opinions of small LGBTQ communities in the smaller towns and how they feel the bigger parades in New York or San Francisco affect them.
To build the knowledge around this topic, I would further research into sentiments of LGBTQ people in smaller, more southern, conservative towns on pride parades, particularly bigger displays. I would also want to look into how the law of diminishing returns impacts the pride parade. There is definitely a somewhat popular belief that the parade has lost its purpose somewhere along the way. One secondary source refers to it as the “disneyfication” of pride (Ruck 2019). In a letter, the author expresses his dilemma over whether or not he wants to continue to support a parade which isn’t doing much to support its community anymore. It seems that participants from the original parades do not think that the parade today has retained its value but rather has been commercialized. It’s very apparent in this letter that the writer feels they are also being capitalized on by corporations looking to generate revenue from a minority group who is loyal to its support. I think back to the review article and wonder if the parade has become more a spectacle of spending and partying than it was meant to be. Like other holidays, has pride become commercialized and a point of spending? June has turned into a time of pride partying and rainbow themed products. I supposed that if I were given the opportunity, I would want to deepen my research to explore not only the significance of the attire worn to the parades and how that helped to communicate visibility but examine the results of the parade over time as an extension of the study on the Pride Parade’s impact. I would like to look more at how the parade may have lost its meaning to mainstream culture as LGBTQ people have become more integrated into society’s norms. Through gathering research for my project, I’ve come to the conclusion that fashion has played a big role in drawing attention and conveying the central message of the parade ever since its origins in 1970 following the Stonewall Riots. The Pride Parade has been a critical social movement and spectacle for social change, however, as the climate adapts and has become more accepting of the American LGBTQ community, it seems that the Pride Parade itself is losing its political impact and is becoming more of an opportunity for big name brands to capitalize on festivities and celebration.
Annotated Bibliography
Primary
“The 'Gay' People Demand Their Rights”
Dated June 28, 1970, - the day of the first ever pride parade, or “gay liberation march” which is the title they gave it back then
“Trending in the steps of all other minority groups” plays into chapter focus question answered in part 1
Would be valuable as it could display public sentiments towards the community when the parade first start being held and can be compared to opinions/rhetoric in regards to the community in years following
Bibliography
"The 'Gay' People Demand their Rights." New York Times (1923-), Jul 05, 1970. http://ezproxy.lib.calpoly.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/historical-newspapers/gay-people-demand-their-rights/docview/118707339/se-2.
“Don't Ask, Don't Print: For years, gay men and lesbians were invisible in the news media. STRAIGHT NEWS Cays, Lesbians, and the News Media. By Edward Alwood. Illustrated. 386 pp. New York: Columbia University Press. $29.95.”
Five years after first gay liberation march, would be useful to examine changing feelings towards the LGBTQ community
Coverage on early parades was difficult to find so this article would be helpful in supporting evidence that media coverage was becoming more common in years following beginning of parades
By, Abe Peck. "Don't Ask, Don't Print: For Years, Gay Men and Lesbians were Invisible in the News Media. STRAIGHT NEWS Cays, Lesbians, and the News Media. by Edward Alwood. Illustrated. 386 Pp. New York: Columbia University Press. $29.95." New York Times (1923-), Nov 03, 1996. http://ezproxy.lib.calpoly.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/historical-newspapers/dont-ask-print/docview/109661592/se-2.
“Gay Marchers Press Ahead in 25-Year Battle: Rally Recalls Stonewall Rebellion and Seeks Global Protection CITY Gay Marchers Press On in 25-Year Battle”
25 years after stonewall and then first gay liberation parade, this article seems to provide evidence of growing coverage on gay pride parades and their message
Immediately, this article highlights purpose behind the march and the movement unlike older articles which headlined things like “men in thongs” and “march of rainbows and pink triangles”
Heading already displays change in rhetoric in regards to the community
By, JANNY SCOTT. "Gay Marchers Press Ahead in 25-Year Battle: Rally Recalls Stonewall Rebellion and Seeks Global Protection CITY Gay Marchers Press on in 25-Year Battle." New York Times (1923-), Jun 27, 1994. http://ezproxy.lib.calpoly.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/historical-newspapers/gay-marchers-press-ahead-25-year-battle/docview/109398936/se-2.
Secondary
“lesbian/gay trips, cruises & marches”
At first glance, journal article will cover LGBTQ parades and is dated in 1980, ten years after the first official pride parade
Should be useful for building evidence about public perception of the gay community and movements towards liberation
Talks about government policy and LGBTQ retaliation against major opression
cad. “Lesbian/Gay Trips, Cruises & Marches.” Off Our Backs 10, no. 3 (1980): 20–20. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25793329.
“Queering Laughter in the Stockholm Pride Parade”
Abstract states that it will analyze the effectiveness of a particular pride parade as a stage for political progressiveness
Directly ties into my question - what impact have the parades had/is it effective at promoting progressive values and gay liberation
I like that it highlights how the extravagance of the pride parade is a direct commentary on the hush-hush/”dont ask dont tell” policy on sexuality
Should be effecive in supporting that there is purpose in the parade
Lundberg, Anna. “Queering Laughter in the Stockholm Pride Parade.” International Review of Social History 52 (2007): 169–87. http://www.jstor.org/stable/26405488.
“PRIDE AND DIVERSITY AT ANNUAL 2015”
Should provide recent evidence of parade significance and role in progressive movement
Should support idea that parade is still relevate in gay liberation and proves consistency in its recurring effort to help the movement’
Landgraf, Greg. “PRIDE AND DIVERSITY AT ANNUAL 2015.” American Libraries 46, no. 7–8 (2015): 14–20. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26372150.
“4 “Pride Comes in Many Colors”: Variation among Parades”
This document should provide further insight into the thesis
Variance of the parades and purpose in differences among them
Supports thesis in providing an argument that there is purpose in the choices of display in the parades
Bruce, Katherine McFarland. “‘Pride Comes in Many Colors’: Variation among Parades.” In Pride Parades: How a Parade Changed the World, 131–72. NYU Press, 2016. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1bj4sds.9.
Pride Parades and LGBTQ Movements
Explains how mobilizing the community physically influences expression of tensions of participants
“Modern Art and the Cold War.” U.S. Department of State. U.S. Department of State. Accessed October 28, 2022. https://art.state.gov/portfolio/modern-art-and-the-cold-war/#:~:text=The%20Central%20Intelligence%20Agency%20used%20American%20modern%20art,%E2%80%93%20as%20a%20weapon%20in%20the%20Cold%20War.
“Review of Pride Parades: How a Parade Changed the World by Katherine McFarland Bruce”
Recent review of the impact of the parades offers a modern and less biased take on purpose of pride parades through the years
Without being clouded by antigay sentiments rooted in environment of the time period, article should be helpful in proving purpose and impact of the annual pride parade and supports notion that it remains impactful today
“Pride Parades: How A Parade Changed the World: A Review.” Mobilizing Ideas, July 3, 2017. https://mobilizingideas.wordpress.com/2017/06/30/pride-parades-how-a-parade-changed-the-world-a-review/.
“The Pride Parade Before Disneyfication”
Offers new perspective in which parade used to be effective but no longer is due to gentrification/ overly mainstreamed evolution of it
could serve as source of counter evidence while still providing argument that it DID have an impact
Ruck, Paul C. "The Pride Parade before Disneyfication." The Gay & Lesbian Review Worldwide, July-August 2019, 6. Gale Academic OneFile (accessed November 3, 2022). https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A593918998/AONE?u=calpolyw_csu&sid=googleScholar&xid=bdecc168.
“The look of gay liberation”
Article description higlights “first gay liberation march in new york” which is of great importance to my argument in proving the importance of the first official pride parade and the evolution of the parade iself over the years as well as purpose and impact
Ruck, Paul C. "The Pride Parade before Disneyfication." The Gay & Lesbian Review Worldwide, July-August 2019, 6. Gale Academic OneFile (accessed November 3, 2022). https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A593918998/AONE?u=calpolyw_csu&sid=googleScholar&xid=bdecc168.
“From “gay is good” to the scourge of AIDS: The evolution of gay liberation rhetoric, 1977‐1990”
The evolution of rhetoric in regards to gay liberation is super important to my argument
Proves progression
Article will hopeuflly provide analysis of rhetoric in regards to gay community and will likely delve into media coverage of parades over years to prove it
“From ‘Gay Is Good’ to the Scourge of AIDS: The Evolution of Gay Liberation Rhetoric, 1977‐1990.” Taylor & Francis. Accessed November 3, 2022. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10510979109368320.
“The Gay Liberation Movement: Before and After Stonewall”
I really want to use this article to provide context to the launch of the parades
Article will strengthen my thesis by providing historical context and explain origin and purpose of parades, thus contributing to argument of them being impactful in progress
K., McGraw Sean Heather. The Gay Liberation Movement: Before and after Stonewall. New York: Rosen YA, Rosen Publishing, 2019.
