Reflections on New York Pride

By Rev. Gilbert H. Caldwell

1. A Gay Pride weekend is no different from a Black Pride weekend. James Brown addressed this in his song "I'm Black and I'm Proud" ("Say it loud, I'm Black and I'm Proud").  Any community or group of persons that has and does experience demeaning, de-humanization, suppression and oppression because of who they are MUST for its own sanity and to avoid being rendered invisible, CELEBRATE! Ralph Ellison said it well in his book about race, Invisible Man: "I am invisible because people simply refuse to see me."  Persons or groups that live their lives in "closets" become accomplices to those who wish they did not exist.

2. There will be critiques of what some call "shocking" displays of sex and the sexual.  One must ask the question, "Is it because of the sex, or is it because the Gay community dares to express its own version of 'The Audacity of Hope' by going public with the fact the Divine has given us the gift of sexuality whether it is expressed activity or not?"  In a society that is ashamed and/or unwilling to admit that our parents "did it" to produce us, Gay Pride weekends make public, that some would deny, "We are sexual beings."  Gertrude Stein said of Oakland, "There is no there, there." Public affirmation that we exist and that our existence is the result of sexual activity lets the world know that in us, there is a there there.

3. Some religionists critique same gender sexual activity because they say "sex is meant only for a man and woman, because the purpose of sex is procreation and little more."  I am not a Biblical scholar, but each time I read Song of Solomon in the Hebrew Bible, I read little of procreation and I find words that affirm the magnificence of the human body and how bodies interact in ways that express affirmation of the God who created them.

4. The rainbow colors that dominate the visuals of Gay Pride weekends remind me of how natural rainbows are created: a mix of rain and sunshine.The pride that accompanies the displaying of those colors is a way of saying that the inner tears provoked and evoked in persons who are Gay because of rejection by family, friends, society, church, and sometimes by self, have met the sunshine of love, acceptance and affirmation.  Thus, a human rainbow has been created. Gibran is right about the mix of joy and sorrow.  The Gay community is a living expression and embodiment of the joy that comes from celebrating each other and celebrating self. Each of us is a "Rainbow" composed of a mix of tears and sun; but too often it is only those who have been oppressed and denied who understand that.