Sexual Relationships 
Sexual Health 
It’s that time of the year again; rainbow-covered items have begun popping up around town, be they banners on street-posts or items in stores that have a rainbow-themed pattern with ‘PRIDE’ plastered somewhere on it. It feels like it’s been an annual thing for some years now, or as far as I can recall since I went to that giant ‘pride parade’ downtown what might’ve been a good ten years ago by now.
Also the time when I often hear fellow workmates or friends scoff at the idea of it being ‘gay pride’ month. Turning down my suggestions that we dip downtown and check out the parade because, ‘why is there no straight pride parade?’ Or if they’re typically a good bit older, saying they’re not interested in checking out ‘gay propaganda’.
Now, I never really bothered to look into the answers to why there is so much media about LGBTQ+ pride. How come we never read or hear about the same things having gone on in our parents or grandparents time, save for Woodstock? I mean, there’s typically a catalyst of some sort for every movement that really kicks it into motion so colour me surprised when I read up on the history behind gay pride month.
Gay Americans living in the 1950s and 1960s faced an anti-gay legal system. Homosexual groups in the U.S. at that time sought to show that gay people could be assimilated into society, favouring non-confrontational education for homosexuals and heterosexuals alike.
There were very few establishments who welcomed gay people. The ones that did were usually bars, namely The Stonewall Inn. The Stonewall Inn was run by the Mafia, and was known to be popular among the poorest and most marginalized people in the gay community: butch lesbians, effeminate young men, drag queens, male prostitutes, and transgender people.. In the fall of 1959, the New York police force began closing down the city's gay bars, which had numbered almost two dozen in Manhattan at the beginning of the year.
The election of John Lindsay as mayor in 1965 signaled a major shift in NYC politics, and a new attitude toward sexual behaviors began changing the social atmosphere of New York.
On April 21, 1966, it was declared that it was illegal for homosexuals to congregate and be served alcoholic beverages in bars.
An example of when these laws had been upheld is when Gloria's, a bar that had been closed for such violations, fought the case in court and lost. Prior to this change in the law, the business of running a gay/lesbian bar would often involve paying bribes to the police and Mafia.
Regardless, most gay bars were quickly closed and new ones lasted only a short time. Despite police raids on gay bars being almost routine throughout the 1960s, officers quickly lost control of the situation at the Stonewall Inn on June 28, 1969.
And so it began…
In the early hours of the morning, five uniformed police officers joined forces with four undercover police, who were already stationed inside the bar.
Because the patrol wagons responsible for transporting the arrested patrons and the alcohol from the bar took longer than expected, the raid did not go as planned. This little bit of extra time was all that was needed for a crowd of released patrons and by-standers to grow outside of the Inn. The crowd swelled as the night went on. So much so that the police officers eventually became so afraid of the crowd that they refused to leave the bar for up to 45 minutes!
The straw that broke the camel’s back in what had been building up for years was when a woman in handcuffs was escorted from the door of the bar to the waiting police wagon several times. She managed to get out of the wagon and proceeded to repeatedly fight with four of the police, swearing and shouting. Bystanders recalled that the woman sparked the crowd to fight when she looked at bystanders and shouted,
"Why don't you guys do something?!"
After an officer picked her up and heaved her into the back of the wagon, the crowd became explosively violent.
As riots typically go, the more the police force tried to restrain some of the crowd, knowing a few people down, the more riled up bystanders became. The riots would go on to escalate to the point where the Tactical Police Force (TPF) of the New York City Police Department were called in to help free the police officers trapped inside the Stonewall.
Tensions between New York City police and gay residents of Greenwich Village erupted into more protests the next evening, and again several nights later. Within weeks, Village residents quickly organized into activist groups to concentrate efforts on establishing places for gay men and lesbians to be open about their sexual orientation without fear of being arrested.
After the Stonewall riots had quieted down, gay men and lesbians in New York City faced gender, race, class, and generational obstacles to finally being able to become a more cohesive community. Within six months, two gay activist organizations were formed in New York. A year after the uprising, to mark the anniversary on June 28, 1970, the first gay pride marches took place in New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. The anniversary of the riots was also commemorated in Chicago and similar marches were organized in other cities. Within a few years, gay rights organizations were founded across the U.S. and the world.
CUE LGBT PRIDE MONTH BEING CELEBRATED ON A GLOBAL LEVEL
LGBT Pride Month occurs in the United States to commemorate the Stonewall riots, which occurred at the end of June 1969. As a result, many pride events are held during this month to recognize the impact LGBT people have had in the world. Beginning in 2012, Google even displayed some LGBT-related search results with different rainbow-colored patterns each year during June. In 2017, Google also included rainbow coloured streets on Google Maps to display Gay Pride marches occurring across the world.
So, back to the question- why is there no month or festivities celebrating being straight?
Because Congress has yet to pass a law requiring people to hide the fact they are straight. The streets are not filled with children who have been kicked out of their homes for being straight. It’s not the norm to see stories in the news in which someone has been beaten, tied to a fence and left to die or shot in the face at point blank range because they were straight.
Gay pride month may seem like a band-aid solution to raising more awareness for the LGBTQ+ community to many, but remember; it was the norm to be arrested for nothing more than belonging to such communities less than a century ago!
As a result, it seems pretty fitting that every liberty be celebrated.
EDIT- the title was intended to be nothing more than click-bait. I was aware that there's no need to raise awareness for an orientation/gender-identity that is held by the majority. However, my curiosity definitely got the best of me when I heard many peers/coworkers asking the question in all seriousness. Hence, I took it upon myself to look into the history behind 'gay pride month' and learn more about what actual events were involved in how it came to be.
What Girls & Guys Said
29 80Straight people were never socially or politically persecuted for being straight. Sure, they can be proud of who they are, but why celebrate the norm through a parade? Gay people do have something to celebrate and that’s progress for their rights in some countries but not all 🤷🏻♂️
Becaus it is stupid, gosh even the day is annoying.
I don’t get why a marginalized group emboldening themselves bothers you so much. It’s not like gay people personally affect you.
Yes they do. Why get people a extra day to celebrate their Sexuality? Do we see also Trans or foot fetishist.. Bdsm, domina.. Etc? If they wanna be gay fine, then keep it in your bedroom but not half or even full naked on the street in front of children. This is disgusting. I don't bother anyone else with my favorite sexual selection.
because humans are stupid, they are trying to normalize something that if we deep down think of it, it isn't normal, now of course its something we shouldn't judge and treat people bad for but its not normal and they just want to force everyone to accept its normal when it isn't, im guessing being straight is already normal and accepted so they dont have a month for it, would be cool if they did tho ha
Wow Chris. SMH.
Such a bigoted statement. Annoyed and angry because a group doesn’t want to be marginalized and oppressed. 🙄
its the truth
if it was accepted, this wouldn't exist
When you celebrate “gay pride” you are literally telling everybody about your sex life. Most people don’t want nor care about that. You said you didn’t want to be judged for what you do in the bedroom but yet you want attention for it.
Also I find it real curious that there are pride marches and mass celebrations going on right now and there isn’t one peep about COVID-19 transmission at these things. Just like BLM protests I guess covid-19 is magically “woke” and somehow doesn’t infect these participants (cough)
Pride is a sin.
Having pride in sodomy is even more egregious.
No one asks anymore what is right, or what ought to be.
Straight pride month would be ridiculous, but even more ridiculous is being proud of sodomy.
God Bless you brother.
@JimboGB Thank you! God bless you too!
Because for thousands of years people have been shamed and judged for being gay.
So people do this to help all the people that struggle from depression and shame of being ridculed for trying to be thereself.
Many are so afraid of being judged that they hide it from the world. It's to help them be theirselves.
People are not shamed for being straight so they do not need a straight pride parade.
Try thinking of something about you that means the most to you, but are unable to express it because people will call you mentally sick, disgusting and a shame to humanity this is why gay pride month exists.
If people stopped harassing gay people for being gay their would be no need for it.
I just love how Russia is taking actions in preventing mental illness spreading to their kids. The Russian government's stated purpose for the law is to protect children from being exposed to homosexuality—content presenting homosexuality as being a norm in society—under the argument that it contradicts traditional family values. The statute amended the country's child protection law and the Code of the Russian Federation on Administrative Offenses, to criminalize the distribution of "propaganda of non-traditional sexual relationships" among minors. This definition includes materials that "raises interest in" such relationships, cause minors to "form non-traditional sexual predispositions", or "[present] distorted ideas about the equal social value of traditional and non-traditional sexual relationships." Businesses and organizations can also be forced to temporarily cease operations if convicted under the law, and foreigners may be arrested and detained for up to 15 days then deported, or fined up to 5,000 rubles and deported.
cause you can't be proud if you're normal.
So are African American, women, and any other oppressed group not normal?
@Sparda20xx they are minorities. So they are not normal, they are the exception. They can be proud. White men can't. This is the society we live in. Not my personal opinion.
White can be proud. Hell we have holidays. Such as Saint Patrick day. I know plenty Italians who are proud of there heritage and no one says anything bad to them. Sadly most African Americans have no idea where we came from, so we say black pride. Even more unfortunate, the term white pride has been correlated with facial hatred and inequality. But most people wouldn't mind if you said, I'm celebrating my Irish heritage. I get what you are saying, this is just my take on it
Racial * not facial
@Sparda20xx saint patricks day isn't about being white xD also i'm not talking about every society. i'm talking about the American one, which obviously isn't the same as others. i was describing the current social norms, not my opinion. you even said it yourself. pride has been correlated with facial hatred and inequality that's not accurate. "not being negatively effected" by social inequality on a societal level has been correlated with "being an oppressor" which is of course bullshit but that's what the majority thinks is the case. so "understanding what's going on" and "knowing what's right" are not the same thing.
I'm talking about American Society. In America, the vast majority of people has no problem if celelbrate your Irish heritage, or Scottish, or Italian. Even in my HBCU, we had Italians who celebrated their Italian Heritage. We usually would join in and celebrate with them and they didn't mind. And no one had a problem with that. And I explained why the term "white pride" is correlated" with racial inequality. That's thanks to the kkk racist whites. It's not something that other race did, but racist white people. Let's explore further. The use the swastika. The orignal sign was a symbol of peace and enlightenment. Now it's a sign of hate thank to Hitler. Would you say that's also bullshit? Terms and symbols sadly change meaning. Black power, in most cases, means racial equality and striving for freeing blacks from oppression, but white pride has never meant these things since most white people know where they come from, and in America were never, as an entire race, oppressed. Let's use another example. I should you have heard the term "ego". Ironically, the originally meaning of the term, which meant humility, is the exact opposite of its current meaning.
@Sparda20xx that's celebrating heritage, not "being white". celebrating being "white" or "straight" is considered offensive. i can't believe that you don't see that. actually the arms of the hitler swastika goes opposite direction to the traditional sign of peace and enlightenment you were referring to, which is subtle but quite telling. the theory of symbolic interactionism which you are sort of scratching here is not really one you need to get into to understand that majorities in america are sort of unpopular and seen as "oppressors" these days.
@Sparda20xx by the way ego linguistically comes froom origo, which means "origin or descent"
Most people celebrate their heritage. As I said before blacks celebrate "being black" for two reasons. Most of us have no idea where we came from. Two blacks were opprsesed. Being white isn't a heritage, and I would not called it culture either. I'm sure if you called an Irish man Italian, the Irishmen would be quick to correct you. White as whole were not collectively opprsesed as I said previously. What would you be celebrating? As for straight people, again what would you be celebrating? I legit what to know. Furthermore, regardless of the orientation of Hitlers swastika, most will view it as symbol of hate. Which is sad.
Every day, as a straight man, I got to live "a normal life". Straight kids don't get kicked out of their homes for being straight. Gay pride month would be a celebration of equality I would supposed. The ability to marry, the ability to adopt children, the ability to be true to themselves. The very freedoms straight individuals embraced every day without fear. Since people were able to embrace these freedoms every day, why would you need to celebrate? Again I'd like to hear your thoughts
It is easy to take a community that has been hated and abused, and then take their suffering and use it for political leverage to attack your enemies. The ever-growing community of people who feel marginalized is being used as a meat shield to tear down the cultural foundations of the country and give dictatorial control to those who seek it.
The "intersectional" community will be discarded once they are no longer needed to gain power. They are being used, and they are giving far more hate than they are receiving.
Everyone deserves to be free of legal discrimination, and free to form communities. But it hasn't stopped there, and it won't stop as long as their pain can be used as fuel for power.
Sucks huh. Not that I even care to celebrate it but being white , straight, and no interest at all in feminism I dont get any parades or fun month partys 😆
Because the people who rule the world want LGBT people out there to control the population. They also want to brainwash little kids with it so they end up being LGBT. It is all a huge scam and not to mention very disgusting.
Exactly
I think parades aren't for 95% of the public. Just sayin'.
Because we understand nobody cares about who you want to fuck. Bunch of narcissists.
Troll alert
@neilsmart Your butt hurt because I rejected your advances lol
I wouldn't let your tiny dick anywhere near my butt
@neilsmart You got the wrong guy 😉 lol
You shouldn't send dick pics unless your dick is a respectable length.
@neilsmart As we both know I didn't you should be satisfied. You wanted me really bad though, I can tell lol
Keep telling yourself that! Several of the girls on here have enjoyed laughing at your prepubescent 3 incher
Like you said "troll alert" I must be the only guy that told you no lol
The same reason there is no air breather's pride day.
The reason for pride parads are because the LGBT community has been bullied, harrassed, oppressed, beaten, abused tortured, killed for not being heterosexual. I see many on here are a part of the problem for wanting for hating themn calling them faggots, thinking they are immoral etc.
Good question. I've asked this question myself. And then I realised I never got to be bullied for being straight. I never got to be mistreated for being straight. My "straightness" was never considered non-normal. I never had to fight for my own rights cause they were never taken for being straight. Having kids is a gift given to me, and I never have to struggle for it (well except if diseases or other stuff happen). I don't have to hide the fact that I have a boyfriend. I don't have to act like I like girls. You see, in overall : I have nothing to fight for and thus nothing to be proud of.
The pride month is celebrating what you achieved after fighting for a long time. Like coming out after you fought for a long time to keep it a secret. Like being open in public. Like getting married, and adopting kids, and having your own family. For a straight person like me, this is not as difficult as for a gay person. And if they manage to live happily with their partner then they made it. And they should feel proud of that.
Having months devoted to specific groups is a great way for the elites to keep us separated so that we do not notice how much they are screwing us over.
Four idiots downvoted you because they are too retarded to understand what you said , the elites absolutely love these idiots
Because they don't want equality, they want accentuation.
Well, you've answered your own question well enough. Nothing to add and thumbs up!
It’s like, why ask such a stupid question? I don’t understand.