A Pride Season of Protest

After attending my first Pride of the summer, I should probably be feeling more jubilant than I currently am. It is true I had a wonderful time at Highland Pride marching with my darling mother, fellow heritage colleagues and the rest of the LGBT+ community. There was a real sense of togetherness as we trekked through the streets of Inverness, heartily applauding the paddle-boarders wrapped in Pride flags as they sailed by us on the Ness. We sang Chappell Roan songs, visited the stalls arrayed at Eden Court and were gifted brightly coloured bangles by a beautiful non-binary fairy. Yet I couldn't help but feel a sadness not brought about merely by our light drenching of rain. Events this year have certainly been smaller than previous, due to being heavily cross-scheduled (this weekend was also Grampian Pride and Portobello Pride) and therefore splitting attendance. Since the pandemic, scheduling has grown a lot more crowded throughout June. Though spirits were high, I feel this was a year where marching loudly and defiantly would have made a statement better en masse.

With corporate interests unsurprisingly letting our community down on all sides, it feels we should be gathering to defend and support our trans, non-binary and intersex comrades more than ever. Whilst celebration invigorates our community, we should also be reasserting the protest element of Pride: one defined at Stonewall. On June 28th 1969, the police raid which triggered the uprising very much hinged on the arrest of patrons and staff for breaching "public morals" with their choices of gender non-conforming garments. Even then authorities overstepped boundaries by deeming our community's gender presentation unacceptable. Now in the UK we once more face this prejudice and policing of our bodily autonomy thanks to the inaccurate Supreme Court ruling and unlawful EHRC guidance.
Queer folks are fighting to protect our human rights on so many fronts: with legal challenge to detailed EHRC consultation, both inter-organizational and internal advocacy in workplaces through to colleague wellbeing support, from topless protest to marching in solidarity at every Pride we can. So many on the edge of burnout, but staying strong for the rest of us. Of course, getting those in power to not only listen but to meet us with understanding, is an ongoing uphill battle.
"Here's to the things you love, Here's to those you fight enough, Hell to the rest of us" - London Grammar's 'Hell to the Liars'
For a lot of folk, the start of this year has felt like standing on the brink of a precipice - like that meme of Ralph Wiggum from The Simpsons sitting at the back of the bus, chuckling and calmly asserting "I'm in danger" - when blatantly we're already in abject freefall. In fact, we've likely been falling for quite some time and just haven't fully cottoned-on yet. A war of attrition since Russia invaded Ukraine; broken cease-fire and persisting genocide of Palestinians in Gaza; fascists in the White House tanking world economies as indigenous actor Jonathan Joss is murdered in a horrific homophobic attack marking the start of Pride month (a crime which has had me in tears and livid with rage at its mishandling by authorities) and ICE kidnap innocents off the streets; whilst judges in the UK Supreme Court idiotically rewind Trans Rights - so much for impending danger, the fight is already here!

Over the last couple days we have additionally seen exemplary action in:
- The crew of the humanitarian aid vessel Madleen detained illegally by the Israeli Occupation Force; a UK-flagged ship captured in international waters. Despite deporting the majority of the vessel's crew, a French-Palestinian Member of the European Parliament and at least 7 other crew member remain Israeli hostages, the boat and its aid supplies have been taken and most importantly Israel's starvation blockade of the Gaza coast has been thrown into stark relief. Right now, a land-based 300 vehicle strong aid convey has headed off from Tunisia to join with protesters from over 30 countries at the Rafah border to break the siege and get vital supplies to the people of Gaza through a humanitarian corridor.
- Protests have swept L.A. after ICE indiscriminately snatched people they assumed to be immigrants off the street and raided major businesses (also arresting a key L.A. Union representative in the process). Police and ICE responded to the people's dissatisfaction by teargassing a Latin American neighborhood and shooting "non-lethal" (read "perfectly lethal up-close") ammo at protesters, civilians walking home and journalists covering the demonstrations. There have been further protests in Boston, Seattle, Chicago, Austin, Dallas, Washington D.C. & Santa Ana. These continue today in New York & other cities, the American President deploying the National Guard at great expense to the country.
- The UK, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Norway have finally set sanctions against the two far-right extremist Isreali ministers Ben Gvir and Smotrich who have long been calling for Gaza and the West Bank's ethnic cleansing and the eradication of Palestinians. Honestly, they should already be facing trial at the Hague for war crimes alongside their corrupt leader - this is an important first step. But don't go congratulating the UK just yet, as our former Prime Minister turned Foreign Secretary David Cameron was revealed to have threatened ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan about holding Israel responsible for their atrocities. Sounds like someone's firmly on that Zionist political payroll (really no big secret - a LOT of influential UK & U.S. politicians are).
It is evident we can still draw hope from the way folks are standing strong in the face of rising fascism, despite everything that attempts to dishearten us. It is hard, and everything is (purposefully) very overwhelming right now. I know I've probably been on the verge of burnout for a long time, only to be pulled back and held safe by those close to me (whether through creative means, insightful discourse, entertaining distraction, occasional escape to other worlds, or simply the solidarity of being there to listen and a shoulder to cry on). There are always other folk out there going through the same or similar. Sadly, we've seen a few prominent Trans voices online turn on our own in desperation to capitulate and save themselves. Breaking the line is not the way - as evidenced by history, the fascist machine will chew them up and spit them out like everything else if left unchecked. We are only strong together. So even if Prides are smaller, less loud and provocative this year, know the people showing up and walking quietly at your side are your comrades. Through these dark times, we persevere.