
For Pride 2010, we asked an eclectic group for their take on Gay Pride. From living to loathing, the responses cover a wide spectrum - a rainbow of opinion, perhaps?
Our friend and contributor Landry is beyond the labial labels of lesbian or dyke or wife or macaroni salad queen, and she has a take on pride that goes beyond the expected:
I will sometimes make the argument that it's not necessary for us to
have marriage rights. 99.9% of the time I'm just being a devil's
advocate (asshole) but sometimes it's because I think about how well we
have done creating families on our own and without the approval of the
masses; we just do it like some sort of superpower honed over centuries and
out of necessity.
The real beauty of it is that we have had no real role models. Our
relationships may be similar to our parents in that we love each other
but that is where the similarities stop, which makes us lucky. We get
to make our own life structures; create our own traditions and
ceremonies; map our own lives without any predetermined path cut for
us.
And we do! Many of my friends have created relationships that work for them.
That may mean keeping separate apartments or having open
relationships. For most heterosexual people, those options are not only "not on the menu", they are not even on their radar even though those may be
the things that could work for them and keep them together for the long
haul.
I worry about what government recognized status will do to that
spirit and the creative approach, not so much for my generation, but for the ones after.
The importance for young gay people to have role
models is so that so they don't feel alone, but it is my hope that the example we set isn't one of cookie-cutter, hetero-matrimony. I
guess it is my hope that we *will* change the definition of marriage
and be the role models for everyone.
My pride comes from being part of a tribe that makes the
rules because they are unable or unwilling to follow the ones that
someone else has set. My plan is to keep making my own story, one
that doesn't look like anyone else's.