More than 1 million people gathered on the North Side of Chicago Sunday for the 53rd annual Chicago Pride Parade. There were more than 150 participants in this year’s celebrated event. It was but the latest in a long list of cities that demonstrated a connection with Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer people during June Pride Month. This yearly event honors the 1969 Stonewall Uprising in Manhattan, a pivotal moment in the gay rights movement.
As June Pride Month ends there are a bevy of good news stories to show why the gay community can feel proud about the decades of work and progress we have made and know our further efforts will also be fruitful.
President Biden was in New York late last week to celebrate the opening ceremony of the Stonewall National Monument Visitor Center. The opening ceremony honored the 55th anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising, a six-day-long series of much-needed demonstrations and determined outrage against police raids on gay bars. Biden was correct. “The course of history was changed forever” by the events at the Stonewall Inn.
The president was joined on stage by musician and gay rights activist Sir Elton John, who said what gay people know to be true deep down. “As President Biden has reminded us today, we face one of those seminal moments: Do we stand up for our vision and our values, or let misinformation and senseless scapegoating turn back the clock? No way. No. In this moment. too. we must take pride and fight on.”
The month was loaded with news stories that alerted gay people they could take the next steps in coming out, as demonstrated with heart-touching examples, such as a news anchor from a Minnesota TV station who did so on-air.
Minnesota news anchor Jason Hackett recently attended a basketball game with his partner of five years. And for the first time, he didn’t care if anyone was watching them.
“He had his hand on my knee, and we were obviously together and I didn’t give a damn about what people thought,” Hackett, 36, tellsTODAY.com.
“A lot has changed in the last two months,” he adds.
In May, Hackett came out as gay onNBC affiliate KARE 11’s “Sunrise” show,where he’s worked since January 2023.
“I lived in this glass closet where my friends and coworkers knew I was gay, but never my audience,” Hackett, a 13-year broadcast veteran, explains. “I kept it to myself.”
This weekend, I read about Japan being introduced to the country’s first same-sex dating reality series. This matters because the nation is the only country amongthe world’s wealthiest democraciesthat hasnot legalized same-sex unions. Few celebrities areopenly gay in Japan and we should not be surprised that conservative groupsoppose legislative effortsto protect the L.G.B.T.Q. community in Japan. The news that Netflix is set to air this reality series is an important next step for those pushing for full gay rights in Japan.
Over 10 episodes of “The Boyfriend,” which will be available in 190 countries beginning on July 9, a group of nine men gather in a luxury beach house outside Tokyo. The vibe is wholesome and mostly chaste. The men, who range in age from 22 to 36, operate a coffee truck during the day and cook dinner at night, with occasional forays outside for dates.
In Japan, the handful of openly gay and transgender performers who regularly appear on television are typically flamboyant, effeminate comic foils who are shoehorned into exaggerated stereotypes. (Think of Soap, an ABC comedy with Jodie Dallas played by Billy Crystal that aired in my high school years. I knew there had to be a better life than that character which was presented to the nation as an example of what being gay was all about.)
I want to add a legislative success this month that is absolutely required in all 50 states. In Michigan, a bill was passed and will receive the signature from Gov. Gretchen Whitmer which will prevent a gay or transgender panic defense. Currently, a suspect who harmed an LGBTQ+ person can claim a victim’s sexuality, gender expression, or gender contributed to the crime. This could include a suspect saying that they acted in self-defense after receiving unwanted advances from an LGBTQ+ person. Simply absurd. Following the law taking effect in Michigan, 30 other states must act in the same fashion.
