Sometimes, there’s a moment so profound that you almost miss it if you blink too fast. In history, those are the moments that would be lost in time but for the lucky snap of a camera lens, or the fortuitous presence of a reporter, storyteller or historian to capture the moment in words.
They’re the moments that are often missed because they hide in the background as mundane or “normal,” because as humans, we tend to live in the moment and to forget all that came before to lead us there.
For Phoenix Pride, and the Valley’s LGBTQ+ community, this weekend is one of those moments.
The theme for this year’s Phoenix Pride Festival & Parade, taking place Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 19 and 20 at Steele Indian School Park (tickets and complete details online at www.PhoenixPride.org ), is “Born This Way,” and there is much more to that than the catchy Lady Gaga tune it invokes.
In what might seem to some as one of those mundane moments, all of the headlining performers at this year’s Phoenix Pride Festival openly self-identify as LGBTQ+. Believe it or not, even for Pride festivals, that is rare; making this one of those moments.
The queer community has long enjoyed the support and allyship of popular mainstream music artists. And, in turn, the community has helped support many of those artists in their rise to stardom. But this is different. This is new. This is not the old norm, but we hope that it will become the norm going forward.
To be clear, that does not mean eliminating non-LGBTQ+ performers from our stages. Not at all. But what it does mean is that we have entered an era in which a significant cross-section of the popular mainstream artist base is comfortable with being open and honest about who they are and how they identify. It is a milestone.
And while this is a key moment for our community in a cultural sense, the real meaning — the real impact — runs much, much deeper.
We are living in an era of full-blown Culture War, and here in Phoenix we are on the front lines. Politicians, legislators, activists and outright unabashed bigots have continued, in some cases revived and expanded, their efforts to marginalize our already vulnerable community.
We’ve seen legislation attacking drag, attacking LGBTQ+ literature, attempting to completely wipe the very existence of LGBTQ+ people out of public-school curricula, and specifically targeting transgender minors. It has been horrible.
So, for this already meaningful weekend — when all in our community, our allies and anyone who wants to join us to live and express their authentic self — having a complete lineup of artists with whom members of the community can identify means more than engaging entertainment.
It means that at some point during this weekend, a young, still-closeted person will be able to look up at an artist commanding the crowd from onstage and know that it’s OK; know that it’s OK to be themself; know that it’s OK to live who they are, as they are; know that, despite the hateful efforts of some, there is a bright and wonderful world in which they can and will be accepted, lovingly and for who they are, not who they have to pretend to be.
For those of us who live every day with the knowledge that the rights to live, to love and to exist that we now enjoy could be taken away at any moment, “Born This Way” is a reminder, a strong statement, an affirmation: That we are who we are and we will not, nor should we ever have to, apologize for being ourselves and living our lives in a way that does no harm to anyone else, and to the contrary, promotes the inclusion and acceptance of all people for who they are.
There are still challenges to face. But over the past four-plus decades, we have made enough progress, that this weekend, we will present our community with an all-LGBTQ+ headlining lineup.
And that progress, alone, is worth celebrating.
Editor’s note: Daniel Eckstrom and Philip Sirois are president and vice president of the Phoenix Pride Board of Directors. Mike Fornelli is executive director. Reach them at info@phoenixpride.org . Reader reactions, pro or con, are welcomed at AzOpinions@iniusa.org .
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