Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month

President Obama has issued a Proclamation designating June 2011 as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month. I call upon the people of the United States to eliminate prejudice everywhere it exists, and to celebrate the great diversity of the American people."

President Obama has issued a Proclamation designating June 2011 as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month. He “call[s] upon the people of the United States to eliminate prejudice everywhere it exists, and to celebrate the great diversity of the American people.”

It’s not clear whether this is a one-off or the start of an annual tradition. (Bill Clinton declared June 2000 as Gay and Lesbian Pride Month, but it didn’t stick.) If so, it has precedent. There is, of course, Black History Month, celebrated each February since 1976. May has been Women’s History Month since 1987. Oddly, it has also been Jewish American Heritage Month since 2006.  Then there’s National Hispanic Heritage Month, which has run from September 15 to October 15 since 1988. Which runs into National Disability Employment Awareness Month, which has been celebrated in October since 1988. That’s  a huge month for recognitions, since Filipino American History Month is also celebrated in October, although not nationally.

For whatever reasons, racial, ethnic, and religious groups have either a heritage or a history; impairments generate awareness; and issues of sexuality and gender elicit pride–unless it’s the mere state of being female and feeling comfortable in that femaleness, in which case it’s merely historical.

 

FILED UNDER: Gender Issues, Humor, , , , ,
James Joyner
About James Joyner
James Joyner is Professor and Department Head of Security Studies at Marine Corps University's Command and Staff College. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm veteran. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.

Comments

  1. Andyman says:

    Ask any husband trying to watch SportsCenter long enough to see how his team did while there are chores to be done. We’re already well aware of females.

  2. Patrick T. McGuire says:

    During which month do we celebrate white, employed heterosexuals?

  3. Dave says:

    During which month do we celebrate white, employed heterosexuals?

    I remember being young and whining to my mom on Mothers Day, asking “Why isn’t there a Kids Day?” To which she (rightfully) said: “Every day is kids day.”

    Same here.

  4. TG Chicago says:

    Ask any husband trying to watch SportsCenter long enough to see how his team did while there are chores to be done. We’re already well aware of females.

    What if the husband is married to a man, though?

  5. Herb says:

    June is usually when the Pride parades are held across the country, so even if it never got an “official” stamp, June would be “unofficially” Pride month anyway.

    That said, an interesting thing has been happening. I’ve been going to Denver’s Pride parade for over a decade now as an official Son of a Lesbian and not only has it gotten larger, but it’s gotten more inclusive and mainstream. Several years back, you might see topless militant lesbians chanting. These days, they’re more likely to be pushing a stroller.

  6. William Teach says:

    This is simply a bone thrown to the gay community as we enter the 2012 election cycle. They’ve been tucked off at Obama since day 1 (don’t forget, Obama is against gay marriage). Like with most things, this is just Obama making a speech, with no real action behind it.

  7. Robert in SF says:

    I just want to emphasize that Pride in regards to this topic is not meant to be interpreted in pride of being LGBT, but in being out, to yourself and to the world.

    It still takes a lot of courage to come out of the closet today, as it were. Perhaps not in public, in the Castro or West Hollywood, but in regards to yourself, your family, friends, loved ones, etc. It’s a big step to admit to yourself that your feelings for others, in regards to physical and emotional intimacy is not the same as the majority of persons you know or know of.

    Until you’ve done it, or had a very close loved one go through it, it’s kinda difficult to understand how hard it can be. It’s the same as people who decide to have children…until you’ve actually been a parent, it’s tough to appreciate “jumping off that cliff”. And once you jump, there’s no going back.

  8. gaylib says:

    June is tradtitionally gay pride month because it marks the anniversary of the Stonewall Riots in NYC on June 28, 1969 which is considered the birthdate of the LGBT civil rights movement.

  9. 11B40 says:

    Greetings:

    Oh, goody! More homosex, please.

  10. Clovis says:

    illicit pride

    Very Freudian there.

    I kid, of course.

  11. mantis says:

    Like with most things, this is just Obama making a speech, with no real action behind it.

    Like with most things, wingnuts are full of shit. From ABL at Balloon-Juice:

    He got DADT done didn’t? He’s no longer defending DOMA isn’t he? He did all this stuff—

    1) Extended benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees
    2) Signed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act
    3) Instructed HHS to require any hospital receiving Medicare or Medicaid funds (virtually all hospitals) to allow LGBT visitation rights.
    4) Banned job discrimination based on gender identity throughout the Federal government (the nation’s largest employer)
    5) Signed the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Extension Act
    6) Extended the Family and Medical Leave Act to cover Gay employees taking unpaid leave to care for their children of same-sex partners
    7) Lifted the HIV Entry Ban.
    8) Implemented HUD Policies that Would Ban Discrimination Based On Gender Identity
    9) Appointed the first ever transgender DNC member
    10) Named open transgender appointees (the first President ever to do so)
    11) Eliminated the discriminatory Census Bureau policy that kept LGBT relationships from being counted
    12) Extended domestic violence protections to LGBT victims

  12. Clovis says:

    Not too long ago you seemed to be astounded that people have inflated estimates of the gay population. Whole lot of mocking of innumeracy, as I recall.

    You think stuff like this helps the population’s basis for making estimates? Does it hinder it, or have no effect at all?

    Between entertainment media. news media, legislative and judicial (and to some extent, executive) decisions, and very loud activists, I think the public can be forgiven for being off in their estimates.

    Although they shouldn’t have been that far off.

  13. theanomaly says:

    I would like to inquire into the month representing the next caucasian, straight, honest, hard-working, American-born productive members of society so I can put on my party hat and march in their Pride Parade. Oh, never mind. I forgot there is no such thing. Imagine that.