By creating events celebrating people who have not been discriminated against in response to events for minorities, majorities seek to involve themselves in events that are not about them because they feel “excluded.”
Every time a month or day celebrating a minority comes around during the year, without fail I hear the words “Why isn’t there a ______ pride month?” followed by “Why can’t I be proud of being (white/straight/male)?”
During Pride Month in June, people ask why there is no straight pride month. During Black History Month in February, people ask why there is no white history month. During International Women’s Day, searches skyrocket and hashtags trend for “International Men’s Day”, which is actually celebrated on November 19.
There are several problems with this mentality. One has to understand that minority groups such as the LGBTQ community, people of color and women have been discriminated against. Minorities have been harassed, murdered, raped and more for being themselves and for standing up for their rights.
White history month is every month as long as black people are killed for no reason by white police officers.
According to statistics from Mapping Police Violence, black people made up 24% of those killed by police in 2019. Black people are also three times more likely to be killed by police than white people and 1.4 times more likely to be killed by police unarmed than white people.
Straight pride month is every month as long as LGBTQ children are kicked out of their homes for not being straight or cisgender.
Around 40% of the 1.6 million young homeless people in the US are part of the LGBTQ community, according to The Washington Post. 43% of these homeless LGBTQ youths were forcibly made homeless by their parents. Many face physical, sexual and emotional abuse.
Pride month is for all the hate and discrimination that LGBTQ people have faced from their own families and others around them.
June’s Pride Month has specific ties to the Stonewall Riots. In June of 1969, police raided New York City’s Stonewall Inn, a bar which did not have a liquor license due to its serving LGBTQ people.
The police used force to arrest employees and patrons which led to angry protestors outside of the bar throwing things at the police, who retreated. The next few nights, the police tear gassed and beat the crowd that gathered again and demonstrations continued. In the next year, an annual march was proposed and held on the last Saturday in June to honor the Stonewall riots.
Straight people could never have had a pride month because it was already normal to be straight, in 1969 and now. They do not have to go through the particular traumas that LGBTQ people have to go through. They do not have to be worried about being accepted by their families and friends if they come out, having to go through the horrors of conversion therapy.
According to UCLA studies, more than 700,000 LGBTQ people have been through conversion therapy, which includes shock therapy, degrading talks, hypnosis, and trying to get LGBTQ people to associate pain with their sexuality (VICE.com).
Straight people do not have to worry about hate crimes against them for existing. In 2015, a terrorist entered Pulse, a gay nightclub, killing 49 people and wounding 53 (CNN.com).
Invalidating each of these minority groups’ efforts for centuries to get themselves the rights that they deserve is bigoted.
It is extremely disheartening to see majorities trying to celebrate themselves in response to events for minorities. Minority groups have fought with blood, sweat and tears to create a place for themselves in this country, and yet majorities question why they celebrate.
We must not let the history behind these days and months of pride be erased to appease majority groups.