The trend of celebrating heterosexuality in ‘Straight Pride’ began around the 1980s, as a response to the beginning of LGBTQ Pride marches in the 1970s. Decades later, in 2019, it is drawing massive attention again. The trend invites a lot of support as well as criticism from different people all over the world.
While some support it as a celebration of one’s identity and sexuality, and view it as a manifestation of freedom of expression, others raise points regarding the obstacles faced by heterosexuals in real life. The LGBTQ community objects against the idea of Straight Pride, and it’s easy to see why. While the world easily accepts heterosexuality and promotes it in social events like marriages, homosexuality is still looked down upon.
There still exist several countries where homosexuality is a crime and the community is facing severe punishment. On the other hand, I haven’t seen heterosexuality being objected to anywhere. This makes us question if we really need to celebrate something which is accepted as ‘normal’ and doesn’t face any of the backlash that LGBTQ people do.
Pride actually began as a celebration of homosexuality in order to normalise it. It is one out of 365 days dedicated to the LGBTQ community to express themselves openly. But politics and homophobia has ruined it.
One way of looking at Straight Pride is that it only promotes more homophobia. Heterosexuality already dominates our society and thus the purpose of Straight Pride is defeated. Straight people outnumber gay people. The purpose of a fight for the inclusion of queer people in mainstream society has now turned into a demand for the inclusion of straight people, which was actually never in question.
Funnily, the concept of Straight Pride resonates with the demand of Men’s Day every year, particularly after the celebration of Women’s Day on March 8. It resonates with the #MenToo movement, after the #MeToo movement. It resonates with the demand of men’s reservation in the Metro after seeing a coach reserved for women.
It is basically a tale spun about the inclusion of the already included majority in society. It is a tale of the fear of including “others”. It is a fear of “them” achieving rights. It is basically thinly-veiled homophobia.