Happy Pride

Gay Christmas has begun in many parts of the world. London has already finished cleaning up the streets after a rainy Saturday festival, while across the Atlantic World Pride in Toronto is culminating in the final day with the parade and street festival. From coast to coast marches and parties are in full swing, from New York City to San Francisco. If there’s one weekend out of the year when Pride is celebrated at once, that weekend is now.

Cities around the world have raised the Pride flag, often not just at City Hall but many government buildings. And it’s soon easy for anyone fortunate enough to be living in one of these open and respectful cities that there was a time we marched in protest not just celebration, and that there remains many parts of the world where being gay is still a crime. Attending Pride is not mandatory and many have chosen to skip the crowds, but few would deny our right to hold this festival.

Pride may have its critics, the ones who say we’ve come a long way and don’t need to keep marching. Lest we forget, “we’re here, we’re queer, get used to it” and we’re not going anywhere. Maybe there will be too much drinking and too much fooling around (especially if you’re not lucky enough to have a boyfriend), but there’s no need to rain on everyone’s parade. Let’s remember we come together as one community — one incredibly diverse community — in a celebration of love and what could be better than that.