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The price of Pride: too steep to pay
By Zoë Williams
williamz@mscd.edu

For years I have expressed and celebrated my queer identity. To me, queer is a complete rejection of a gender binary that forces us to decide whether we are male or female, lesbian or straight, and so many other black-or-white identities. To be queer is to bust out of the socially constructed box that is gender and allow human attraction and gender expression to be based on what feels good to us.

With a queer identity came an onslaught of abuse from my peers that began in the sixth grade. People threw bras at me in the hallway, referred to my best friend and me as “closet perverts” and frequently attempted to start fights. I did not know exactly what to tell my parents, or anyone else for that matter. Queer was a hard thing for me to understand in those days and it was even more difficult to explain.

A few years after the trauma of public schools has worn off, I am surrounded by a community of queers, gender benders, transfolk and enough expressions and orientations to fill the rainbow. They work tirelessly to subvert dominant stereotypes and paradigms through zines, volunteering for crisis lines, talking to classrooms, confronting hate speech and being open about their lives. From these people I have been incredibly inspired and educated.

Yet every year when Pride Fest weekend rolls up, I find myself having an enormous dilemma. While I have a tremendous amount of pride in myself and my community, I fail to relate to the activities that celebrate Denver’s lesbian, bisexual, transgender, gay and queer communities.

Pride occurs every year in late June or early July. It is slated to be the commemoration of the 1969 Stonewall Riots in which New York’s LGTBQ community retaliated for homophobic police violence. When police raided the Stonewall Inn, a popular homo hangout, and began beating folks who resisted arrest, a massive resistance began. For five nights, New York was rocked by rioting condemning heterosexism and transphobia. One of the traditions that have since carried on is an annual national Pride Festival involving entertainment, a parade, rallies and parties.

Last year at Pride, amid the explosion of rainbows, pink triangles, purple rhinos, glitter, feather boas, elaborate floats, flannel and leather, I found the usual and much appreciated groups collecting signatures, inviting people to support groups, educating about AIDS, distributing condoms and dental dams as well as fundraising for charity. Sadly, they struggled to stick out from the merchandise stands, concession booths and smattering of corporate logos.

Car dealerships, banks, liquor companies, real estate agents, cable providers and dozens of other companies had banners flying in numbers greater than the rainbow flags. Every flat surface had a logo on it.

High above the rest and suffocating all of the Pride Fest perimeters was the mighty Coors beer logo: Pride Fest’s largest financial sponsor.

Coors is a beer company with homophobia rooted deep in its philosophy. While many folks will point to the benefit that LGBTQ employees at the brewing company can receive, one must also look at where Coors sends its dollar power. The Coors beer company funds the Heritage Foundation, a far-right think tank. Jeffrey Coors, whose company provides Coors with all of its packaging, is also a board member of the Free Congress Foundation.

The FCF created the notion of the “homosexual agenda” and has published heterosexist propaganda like the pamphlet “Gays, AIDS and You.” The Coors family has long funded campaigns that express far right and homophobic viewpoints and fight against equal marriage rights.

What is next, the Cinco de Mayo celebration endorsing Tom Tancredo?

The Coors sponsorship of Pride needs to be seriously evaluated as Denver’s queers are getting scammed. Hundreds of kegs worth of terrible beer will be tapped empty by folks who are wishing that someday they will be able to legally marry their partner and have their marriage recognized by the government; meanwhile, by doing so, they will be funding some of their lead opposition.
In my queer community, we have fought long and hard not only against homophobia but against sexism, racism and corporate takeover. To rejoice in the pride I have for these people through a Coors-sponsored event does not sit right with me. After all, the love I have for my favorite queers has nothing to do with cheap commemorative merchandise, new bank accounts and boozing.

Honestly, I will probably end up going to Pride, or at least some part of it. Some of my friends are lacking in my cynicism towards the event and have a pretty good time. Other friends usually find a way to cut into the parade with a “You Can’t Sell Queer” or “Stonewall Was A Riot” sign to shake up the squares. I will whine and pout for a while about how much better the event could be, but know that nonetheless, at least we have something.