I understand my privilege as a heterosexual in a tolerant but often not accepting community. That is why I support gay pride and the parade and festivities. I understand that every day is a heterosexual parade, on television, at restaurants, movie theatres, bars, and on the streets. Every day we see blatant acts of heterosexuality while gays, lesbians, transgender, and two-spirit people hide out of fear of discrimination. Our society is more open about gayness, and there are token television programs that stereotype gay culture, but there is still a backlash of intolerance. Rants from fundamentalist sometimes claim homosexuals will destroy the definition of marriage and they will corrupt children and destroy the institution of the family. We live in a society where church and state are separate, where heterosexuals destroyed the meaning of marriage by half of them divorcing, and where young tweens and teenagers wear next to nothing. It is ridiculous to say homosexuals will corrupt children, the meaning of marriage, or the meaning of decency, when the heterosexuals got to it first. There are many family types aside from the nuclear family, and homosexual parents will nurture and love their children like any other family. Finger pointing at homosexuals is intolerant, destructive, and unnecessary.

I’m sure there was time in our history when multicultural events and parades faced similar discrimination as Gay Pride. I’m glad we live in a country that welcomes multicultural diversity, and I’m glad we live in a country that is moving forward when it comes to gay pride. Terms like “faggot” and “queer” are used by school children and adults as an insult, and they are just as inappropriate as racial slurs like “kike”, “nigger”, and “spic”. A tolerant society allows heterosexuals to exist without being lynched or burned at the stake, but an accepting community would make homosexuals feel safe, welcome, equal, and secure from discrimination. With acceptance comes the maturity to respect the differences of all people (regardless if you agree with those differences or not).

All gay pride means is that homosexuals are not ashamed of whom they are, but instead they are equal to everyone else. Equality means respecting and welcoming differences. There is a phrase I learned at a labour youth conference in Toronto a few years ago, and it is that solidarity works. When people stand united against discrimination, discrimination will be defeated, and then we can start moving forward together in equality. Tolerance is not acceptance. Whites in the south tolerated blacks by letting them have their own separate drinking fountains, but that is hardly acceptance. When gay people are accepted as a part of the community, they will have things like equal marriage rights, and a gay couple holding hands in public will feel safe and comfortable. One day Gay parades will solely be a celebration of diversity, until then Gay Pride will also be a reminder that homosexuals deserve equality and acceptance by the society at large.

-Jason Setnyk