Dear Editor,
Opening the paper, big rainbow letters caught my eye. “Pride Speaks” stretched across the cover, and I was immersed in the article. “I don’t even think straight.” Is this how “pride” and equality are being represented? Stomping around yelling “H-O-M-O Sexuals-Go! Own it!”
This march accomplished what? How many people did we affect? In what ways? It could have been defining, had a meaning that students and others reading the Johnson City Press or ET might have debated into the twilight hours.
If your definition of self is gayness, you are another statistic of ignorance and are projecting that on our anxious youth and the adults who are already too intimidated to own their own identity by society’s threat of social isolation. Gay rights are only a small part of a “big problem,” which we should all (gay, straight, black, white, etc.) be uniting to fight. If you hold a sign and yell to have your voice heard, why speak for only yourself? Let every small person speak for equality for all, educating about not only gay rights but womens’ rights, rights for the handicapped, infants, children and the elderly of all races and religions.
Instead of gathering in Borchuck Plaza to speak about our “gayness,” set up booths educating people on how to speak to their kids about race, (implementing black history is essential to our future). Booths set up educating people on women’s rights as well as gay rights, for our peers to come when they are mentally and emotionally ready to learn.
Incorporating ourselves into the community, being a mentor, helping someone for nothing; listening to what people have to say, good or bad is what we should do. We are gay yes, but that doesn’t define who we are. We are defined by our actions and beliefs, our children and friends, and the morals we choose to adopt into our lives, as confusing and alone, as we may sometimes feel. March for “pride” and a sense of self. March for our gayness, our blackness, our womanness, our manness and because you have something to say, not for the sake of noise and show.
– Aisha Martin

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