Pride Is A Celebration Of A People They Failed To Eradicate

June is here, and conservatives are seething. 530 anti-trans and anti-queer bills have been proposed this year, and we are still here. Now, we will gather and show them who they failed to eradicate.

Pride month is finally here, and you can feel the energy in the air. LGBTQ+ people are calling their friends to ask when they’ll be heading down to parades and block parties. Colorful makeup palettes are being delivered to doorsteps. Crowds will swell in virtually every major city across the world as people come out—literally and symbolically—to declare they are still here and to celebrate and bring joy to one another. Meanwhile, conservatives grow irate across social media channels at the pictures of queer and trans people experiencing joy and happiness. Each snapshot from every Pride event serves as a stark reminder: despite their daunting push of 530 anti-trans bills across America in 2023, their objective remains unfulfilled; we are the people they failed to eradicate.

The history of the LGBTQ+ community is one of thriving in the face of adversity, even when they push us into the margins. Almost a hundred years ago, Nazis burned books at the Institute of Sexology in Germany - these books contained the first decades of medical research on transgender people. The ones who burned our history and our books were intent on eradication. Yet our medical care pushed forward, and in the 1950s, multiple doctors were providing gender affirming care to people around the globe.

Photos of trans people in the El Dorado club, Germany, 1920s

Trans and queer people have always been here. That much is obvious when looking at pictures of Germany and seeing the happy trans women and queer people dancing and enjoying each others company. These pictures could easily be of our friends, the same queer people we sit and enjoy drinks with today. The smiles on their faces show a joy that cuts through time. LGBTQ+ people know those smiles well, because they are the same ones that come across our own faces when in the company of others who know what it’s like to live and walk in the world unashamed at who we are. Whatever the ultimate fate of those people in these pictures, LGBTQ+ people endured, and that joy and pride lived on.

It’s the same feeling I see when I see the pictures from Stonewall and the aftermath of the events there. In 1969, there were similar attempts at eradication. Drag laws moved across the United States and book bans were common. The three article rule, which was how drag bans were enforced, stated that you had to have three pieces of attire that belong to your birth sex in order to escape arrest. When police used these laws to justify raiding gay clubs, including Stonewall, patrons had enough and fought back… a coalition of queer and trans people pushed police back and began the movement we celebrate today.

Marsha P. Johnson and demonstrators (left), Gay Liberation Front Meeting (right)

We carry forward a potent legacy, one of not merely surviving but flourishing even in the margins where we've been relegated. We return, time and time again, stronger than ever before. The individuals captured in the images above grasped the dual significance of Pride as both a protest and a celebration of queer joy. They rallied against the oppressive forces that targeted our community for eradication, yet simultaneously reveled in their joy—sharing it with the world, mirroring the sense of belonging and understanding we experience when in the presence of queer community. The essence of queer joy is resistance in its own right, and the reverberations of the Stonewall resistance continue to echo in our celebrations today.

We see today another push and another attempt to force us to the margins. Around the United States, 530 bills have been filed targeting queer and trans people. Gender affirming care has been banned in 18 states for trans youth and even trans adults. Books are being banned and performing art is being criminalized. Brick by brick, the far right is trying to destroy the community and bring an end to its existence. Michael Knowles calls for the eradication of “transgenderism” from public life entirely in front of a packed CPAC audience, and this year, they certainly tried their hardest to do just that.

In the leadup to Pride, the leaders of the anti-LGBTQ+ movement, focused on transgender people, pulled no punches. They boycotted and threatened a beer company for merely sending an image of a beer can with a transgender woman printed on it to that woman. They stormed through Target stores and threw merchandise on the ground while harassing customers and staff members. They pulled Sports Illustrated magazines off of shelves for merely having a picture of a trans woman on front. They kicked a transgender legislator off of the House floor after silencing her from speaking on behalf of her constituents for an entire week.

But June 1st is here, and their protests will fall on deaf ears as pride parades, protests, and block parties start across the United States. This year, these gatherings take on an added significance. As corporations shed their superficial support for the LGBTQ+ community, revealing the fickleness of corporate Pride we'd always suspected, the LGBTQ+ community is here and more of us are coming out than ever. Drag queens have boldly announced, "we will not go quietly," while transgender lawmakers like Rep. Zephyr have asserted, "we will not be complicit in our own eradication." If the recent transgender visibility marches are any indication, we might be on the brink of witnessing the most substantial Pride celebrations in recent memory.

DC Capital Pride 2022, Capital Pride Alliance

The growing crowds will reveal that yet again, they have failed in their goal. We are still here; they couldn’t eradicate us. No matter how many laws they pass, we still will gather in our streets. We will celebrate their failure and our fight for liberation for an entire month. No matter how many of us they harm, Pride will always be a protest and our queer joy will be our resistance.