I’ve never been much of a debater.
Given the choice between celebrating and debating, I’ll take celebrating every time. Life is short, and Pride Month is even shorter, so I’d rather spend my energy dancing with the gays, theys, and baes than arguing in comment sections.
But celebrating our community doesn’t mean pretending we’re perfect.
One of the things I’ve come to appreciate over the years is that LGBTQ history is just as messy, complicated, inspiring, frustrating, and thoroughly human as any other kind of history. We have our heroes. We have our villains. And we have a whole lot of people who fall somewhere in between.
For every Harvey Milk, there’s a Roy Cohn.
For every Bayard Rustin, there’s a J. Edgar Hoover.
For every Marsha P. Johnson, there’s a Milo Yiannopoulos.
Some people spent their lives opening doors. Others seemed determined to slam them shut. And throw away the key.
Take Roy Cohn. Here was a man who helped fuel anti-gay persecution while privately engaging in the very behavior he publicly condemned. His story is tragic, infuriating, and cautionary.
Then there’s Harvey Milk, who became a symbol of visibility, hope, and political engagement for generations of LGBTQ people.
Both men were gay. Both left a mark on history. The marks they left couldn’t be more different.
But most people aren’t quite so easy to categorize.
The older I get, the less interested I am in sorting people into neat little boxes labeled “hero” or “villain.” Real life rarely works that way. Most people are walking contradictions.
A person can make a groundbreaking contributions and still be deeply flawed.
A person can say something foolish and still have value.
A person can be right about one thing and spectacularly wrong about another.
History is complicated because people are complicated.
That’s not a bug. It’s a feature.
Pride Month often focuses on the victories, and rightly so. We should celebrate the activists, artists, politicians, performers, writers, organizers, and everyday people who helped make our lives better.
But we can also acknowledge that our community contains the full spectrum of humanity: The good. The bad. And the ugh-ly.
To me, that’s worth celebrating. Not because bad behavior deserves applause, but because it reminds us that LGBTQ people aren’t a monolith. We never have been.
We’re dreamers and troublemakers. Rebels and rule makers. Saints and sinners. Introverts and extroverts. Activists and couch potatoes.
We’re a community, not a clone factory.
And maybe that’s one of the most beautiful things about Pride.
It doesn’t celebrate perfection. It celebrates people.
Keep calm and don’t be tardy to the party!
Clint 🌈✌️
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FROM THE ARCHIVES
BORN THIS WAY ON THIS DAY
06-19 = Allen Irvin Bernstein (1913-2008) = American veteran and writer 🌈
06-19 = Elisabeth Marbury (1856-1933) = American agent and producer 🌈
06-19 = James VI + I (1566-1625) = King of Scotland, England, and Ireland 🌈
MAN CRUSHES OF THE DAY
“I love to win; but I love to lose almost as much. I love the thrill of victory, and I also love the challenge of defeat.”
Lou Gehrig
“Music is therapy. Music moves people. It connects people in ways that no other medium can. It pulls heart strings. It acts as medicine.”
Macklemore
Clint, The GOOD, the BAD, and the UGLY. Sometimes in my older, secluded, day to day life, I forget the conflict within the LGBTQIA+ Community let alone the singular Gay Community. But we still "Have Come A Long Way Baby." Happy PRIDE Mr. Clint Collide! Fondly, Michael
When I think of LGBT+ Pride Month, I think of this piece of advice someone gave me on a previous occasion: “Always confront yourself before you confront others.”