June is celebrated in many countries around the world as LGBT Pride Month (or, perhaps a Pride Week or Pride Day that month). Of course there are some locations where another month is selected- whether due to overlapping celebrations or climate considerations. Although June was selected as it’s the anniversary of the Stonewall Riots in NYC, now June celebrations tend to focus on our various communities’ recent successes and current challenges.
October has become LGBT History Month in the USA, and some other countries, to honour our heroes of generations past; their successes and sacrifices. October also includes National Coming Out Day, and the anniversaries of the first two National Marches on Washington DC (1979,’87).
The United Kingdom has celebrated LGBT+ History Month in February since 2005.
Many folks in Canada will, despite it being a Commonwealth country, default to US schedules for international celebrations- due primarily to the consumption of a high percentage of US-based media I presume. However, it does allow me to celebrate either event; or both.
And there are good reasons to celebrate February as a Canadian LGBT History Month:
** Commemorating, if not celebrating, the February 1981 Bathhouse Raids and resulting actions;
** Honouring “the existence, the strength, and the beauty of gay love” on Pink Triangle Day February 14th.
While parades and speeches and online videos may be used to mark important events, I feel that there are more substantial ways to truly honour the folks who have worked so hard for so long, often as great personal cost, to make progress in the fight for greater human rights, equality and fairness.
Please do read posts I mention here, and read /watch and share the stories of our elders. But do not stop there; not all our heroes are gone. While I was a month shy of my 11th birthday the weekend of the Stonewall Riots, I am part of a generation that came out and lived proudly while it was still impossible to be an openly gay person and have full access to most of society.
The decriminalization of gay sex between 2 people (in certain situations) in Canada happened around the same time as Stonewall. But the Bathhouse Raids in Toronto (see link above) and elsewhere during the 1980s tested the value of that legislation. The Canadian Human Rights Act with limited protections was passed in 1977, but ‘gay marriage’ did not arrive until this century.
While I’m not adverse to donations as tangible expressions of appreciation for my decades of work as an openly gay/ queer activist (as foot soldier rather than in leadership), there are other ways to recognize my work or support other projects near and dear to me.
At the top of my Bucket List is preserving and promoting the political and musical impact of Romanovsky & Phillips; the groundbreaking gay folk duo who recorded and performed from 1982-99.
More details on my proposed Family of Lovers: The Music of R&P covers performed by various LGBTQ artists and WIMP: the story of one man’s journey from unathletic loner to out and proud gay young man in 18 songs are posted at FamilyOfLovers.com.
Smaller projects have included the Official Romanovsky & Phillips Lyrical Oracle Deck show here and available made to order.
