This may be an uncomfortable question, but it is one worth asking: has Pride outlived its usefulness?
Pride emerged at a time when gay and lesbian Americans faced genuine legal and social barriers. People lost jobs, housing, family relationships, and personal safety simply because of who they were. Pride served an important purpose. It built visibility, fostered solidarity, and helped advance a movement that ultimately achieved remarkable success.
That mission has largely been accomplished.
Today, same-sex marriage is legal. Openly gay people serve in Congress, run major corporations, appear throughout popular culture, and live openly in communities across America. The central civil rights battles that defined the modern gay rights movement have been won.
Yet Pride organizations behave as though it is still 1978.
Instead of celebrating victory, they increasingly survive by manufacturing grievance. The controversy surrounding Kathy Hilton’s removal as a West Hollywood Pride grand marshal illustrates the problem perfectly. A woman with a long record of charitable work and support for HIV/AIDS causes was effectively subjected to a political purity test. Her actual contributions mattered less than her perceived associations.
This is not inclusion. It is ideological gatekeeping.
The deeper problem is that Pride has become disconnected from the lives of the people it claims to represent. Most gay people today are focused on the same concerns as everyone else: housing costs, public safety, healthcare, retirement, jobs, and quality of life. They are not interested in endless outrage cycles, victim narratives, or social media tribunals.
Yet many Pride organizations have become institutions searching for a purpose after their original mission was achieved. Like many advocacy groups, they have developed bureaucracies, professional activists, and political ecosystems that depend on the continued existence of conflict. Success would require declaring victory. Instead, they continually redefine oppression in order to justify their relevance.
The result is a movement increasingly consumed by exclusion rather than inclusion. Diversity is celebrated only within narrow ideological boundaries. Dissent is treated as betrayal. Questions are viewed as threats. Nuance is replaced by slogans.
If we applied these standards historically, even some of the movement’s greatest allies might fail the test. Would Elizabeth Taylor, whose AIDS activism saved countless lives, be rejected because of her political associations or personal relationships (Dame Taylor once married a Republican Senator)? The question sounds absurd. Yet the logic behind today’s cancellations points in exactly that direction.
Perhaps the most honest thing Pride organizations could do is acknowledge that they succeeded.
Perhaps it is time to retire the permanent protest model and allow LGBTQ people to simply be citizens rather than a perpetual political constituency. Communities do not exist to serve activist organizations. Activist organizations exist to serve communities. When they stop doing so, they should either reform or step aside.
The ultimate measure of success for any civil rights movement is that it eventually becomes unnecessary.
For many Americans, Pride is rapidly approaching that point.
NO
The question becomes even more important when disagreement itself is treated as evidence of hostility. Too often, activist movements fall into the trap of assuming that questioning an assumption, challenging a tactic, or proposing an alternative viewpoint is somehow an attack on the cause itself. But healthy movements, like healthy democracies, should be strong enough to tolerate scrutiny from within. Asking whether a strategy is still effective, whether a label remains useful, or whether an organization continues to serve its original purpose is not opposition; it is engagement. The danger arises when a movement begins to treat skepticism as heresy… Read more »
I agree
Alan seems disconnected from the struggles that many LGBTQ+ people still face. Its probably because its not affecting him personally. Trans people are still being killed at very high rates. Tons of queer youth still end up homeless on the streets kicked out of their homes. Just because for some richer gays its going well doesn’t mean its going well for everyone. And sadly we have seen that some gays specifically have done things to hurt the gay community in exchange for power, money or connections like Roy Cohn who persecuted gays while being closeted himself or Peter Thiel who… Read more »
Micky, You summarized it more concisely than I did. These were the points that I was trying to insinuate and allude to. That was the exact point I was alluding to. The division of gay wealth establishment or the rich gays as you put it and the economic struggles of the other gays the struggling hardships of other gays is never widely spoken about! Good for you to point out that this wealth division within the gay community in West Hollywood and the connections to Peter Theil and his venture capitalist firms as well as the support and connections to… Read more »
you summarized this point more concisely than I did. The division of wealth establishment of rich gays as you put it and the economic struggles and the economic hardships of facing low income gays is never widely spoken from generational divisions based in West Hollywood a decade ago. Glad you to pointed out that this denial of wealth division within West Hollywood is an unspoken secret but never talked about! That’s because those fortunate that gained wealth did so by living in this area decades ago when it was cheap, all the while paying low rents and accumulating money .… Read more »
He also really loves to hear himself talk. Lol
Why is Weho’s decision to remove Kathy Hilton overshadowing an event making it about someone with wealth and connections? This is the third op-ed over this issue from West Hollywood news sources. Why is a rebuttal continuing? Kathy went on national talk shows last August to promote her memorabilia for sale on a charity auction last September. She mentions she’s taking back donated items like bracelet jewelry since she regretted it and removed them from charity auction sale while on-air. Who does that? Also, who has the kind of money to buy a Christmas wreath priced at $3000? Is she… Read more »
Hate to tell you this but Norma is like a ghost town this weekend.
No, Alan it has not. Because for every young person who is struggling with their sexuality and thinks they would be better off dead, because of all the religious fanatics that condemn us every day and keep trying over and over to remove and reduce our rights on every level, because Allies need to be loved out loud, because bad drag makes the heart soar, because Pride is so many things to so many people, because a crappy band playing “I’m Coming Out” on the crappiest float is the most magnificent and affirming ode to Life Gets Better anywhere in… Read more »
I think this view point is perhaps generational. I enjoy watching the kids for whom many is this may be their first Pride event and they seem to be having a great time, even if they are not attending the musical festival. This used to be the one time of year that the entire community got together; now there are hyper-local Pride events which perhaps give us too many options. But as long as people keep showing up, the show should go on as it obviously provides something positive and perhaps validating to people who live in communities that are… Read more »
I largely agree, and I do think there is a generational component to it. For many older LGBT people, Pride was built through decades of coalition-building, persuasion, visibility, and a willingness to engage with imperfect allies in pursuit of broader acceptance. The movement’s strength came from its inclusiveness and its confidence that hearts and minds could be changed over time. What troubles some of us today is the tendency to view history through a contemporary lens and dismiss the strategies, compromises, and relationships that helped achieve the progress we now enjoy. Too often, disagreement is treated as hostility, nuance is… Read more »
All good points, Steve. At first, I was against the addition of the expensive music festival, but I think as of this weekend I’ve come around. Ticket buyers enable the many free components, including the vibrant sold out concert with Ava Max and Jess Glynne this past glorious Friday evening. The heartbreaking last-minute collapse of Long Beach Pride this year, along with the mounting debts of other major Pride festivals as fair-weather corporate sponsors withdraw support, demonstrates the necessity of securing consistent, reliable, revenue streams. Separately, I don’t know if Kathy Hilton was the best choice as Grand Marshal, but… Read more »
I had similar thoughts but now the Music Festival is what sets WeHo Pride apart. As we have been constantly reminded, West Hollywood can’t be all things to all people but at least we can create our own niche to celebrate Pride in our own way.
Hope you had a great Pride weekend Steve and thank you for being a role model for maturing gracefully and remaining involved in the community!
Does the expensive music festival subsidize the free components of Weho pride or is it the other way around? Over $7 million is invested into the events but apparently city of Long Beach took over production of the LB Pride Parade at a cost of only $100,000.
Does the city of West Hollywood get a share of the $ from the Outloud ticket sales as payment for letting Jeff Consoletti throw an expensive ticketed musical festival?
How about a CELEBRATION instead of overpriced tickets and corporate sponsors? BTW, marriage is legal NOW, don’t count on it to last forever with this regime and SCOTUS in power. We still need Pride, but we need to get back to the roots and stop this money grubbing crap.
The main attraction now is the OUTLOUD Music Festival at $150 a ticket. Otherwise, it’s like any other busy weekend at the bars.
The biggest YES and amen possible!! The constant search for something to protest and crazy outrage about is actually setting the whole movement way back – this squabbling, spoilt child can’t-get enough confirming for some that there is actually something really fundamentally off with these people. Even with some in power not quietly considering (read: undoing) marriage and other victories.
That’s what I just said earlier–thieving on my ideas without citation/saying some gays have had enough of pride and don’t see the benefit in every other city treating it like it’s a party at the expense of the government; There is too much visibility of LGBT community atm–that’s why the rest of society is over it; I’m over it…I don’t want target or formula one or budlight to spew their virtue signaling and put a rainbow flag… it’s under false capitalistic pretenses if you tell me. Pride is now loosing and hemorrhaging money, with every other city having their own… Read more »
Our supposed corporate “allies” are in full retreat and few are funding or participating in Pride events this year. Good riddance. Pride should not be an opportunity to pimp beer or whatever. This retreat should remind us that we can’t rely on fair weather friends and there is strength in community solidarity.
Sad to see, Steve. We are absolutely learning who our true allies are.
I’ll drink to that. Problem is too many bars too many people getting high gonna get addicted yet. We have no sober social clubs in West Hollywood because it’s not profitable. The bars pay all the taxes and so forth in the meanwhile May youngsters get addicted. I see it all the time.