In case the neon t-shirts and candy in the atrium haven’t given it away, this week is Pride Week at Carleton. And as both the programming co-ordinator for the GLBTQ Centre here on campus (come visit us in 427 UC!) and a new student this year, it’s been an eye-opening experience to say the least. As much as I sometimes want to hide under my desk to escape the constant stream of questions and requests, I love my job. I love the people I get to interact with every day, and I love watching the communities that get built within the service centre. The chance to share and grow that sort of community is invaluable, and that’s what we’ve tried to do this year with Pride Week. I believe very strongly in the work we’re doing, but there will always be backlash. Inevitably, some people will and do say that Pride is irrelevant, outdated, and altogether unnecessary. To those people, I must say: Pride is absolutely necessary, both within and outside of a Carleton context.
Pride Week is necessary because so much of the time, we are made to feel ashamed of our identities. We are othered for existing outside of norms, oversimplified categorizations, and imposed assumptions. It is so easy to become worn out by the endless question of closets and whether and when to come out of them. As queer and trans* people, we don’t put ourselves in those closets. Mainstream society does that for us, each and every time the default is assumed to be “straight” and/or “cis.” Pride is a chance to experience our identities as healthy and wonderful and important, rather than as burdensome and inconvenient and unwanted.
I think it does us all a disservice to position our sexual and gender identities in such a way that they are either normative or tragic. Queer and trans* students absolutely experience oppression and marginalization, but we also resist them in all kinds of awesome ways. And that resistance doesn’t get talked about nearly enough. We’re told through campaigns like the It Gets Better project that people magically become more accepting when they’re older. But they don’t. There’s a whole lot of work that goes into making things better. And Pride is part of that. Pride gives us the opportunity to recognize the things that are great about one other and our communities, as well as to problematize the things that are not-so-great. It’s a chance to educate, advocate, and celebrate. And there isn’t always space for that.
This lack of space is a big part of the reason we chose the theme “Unapologetic” for 2013’s Pride Week. Our culture places such an emphasis on politeness that we often feel like we can’t, or shouldn’t, stand up for ourselves lest we make others uncomfortable. This theme is our way of saying that we’re not sorry for who we are. Furthermore, we’re not sorry for the discomfort caused by drawing attention to difference and inequity. Growth comes from discomfort. And there is a marked difference between feeling uncomfortable and feeling unsafe. Our campus and the world as a whole is often unsafe for queer and trans* individuals, and that means there is still a tremendous amount of change that needs to happen.
Visibility is necessary for any sort of progress. Our shirts and posters are neon and in your face for a reason. This year’s Pride Week tagline of “No more binaries/No more shaming/No more settling” speaks to the idea that no one should have to resign themselves to the status quo. We’re hoping that our five days of programming generate both conversation and community here at Carleton. And if you’re wondering whether or not to attend an event, the answer is yes. We’d love to see you there.
