Still proud even though virus cancels marches

Colin Beresford was looking forward to the summer of 2020, and for the first time celebrating Pride among the crowds of people in Ann Arbor, Mich.

Beresford, 23, grew up in a conservative Michigan town and described a slow process of coming to understand that he was bisexual, to acknowledge that within himself, and finally to take pride in it.

“For me, it has been scary to accept myself,” he said. “I thought this year could be the year that I go and show myself, and everyone else, who I am. But, just like countless other things, that will have to wait.”

Pride marches and events have been canceled or postponed throughout the country this year because of the coronavirus, and many people like Beresford in the LGBTQ community are missing out on an important moment of visibility and acceptance: their first Pride.

The Pride celebrations are not alone in being called off, but few other events are as much about being seen — by everyone.

“It’s something that’s so central to our identities as LGBTQ folks,” said Fred Lopez, executive director of San Francisco Pride. “To remember that time when we were able to walk hand in hand with a boyfriend or a crush, even amongst hundreds or thousands or hundreds of thousands of people, is really inspiring.”

In place of the marches, parades and parties that have defined Pride in the United States, there will be small gatherings as cities begin to reopen, along with virtual celebrations. World leaders, human rights activists, musicians and drag queens participated in a 24-hour celebration streamed on YouTube and the Global Pride website that started Saturday.

But the importance of Pride as a public event that transforms city streets was underscored by readers who responded to the

New York Times when asked what the loss of the large gatherings meant to them.

Susanna Yudkin said she had been to Pride marches in the past as an “ally” but last year went for the first time as an openly queer woman. “Attending Denver Pride with my pride of fellow queer lionesses was nothing short of exhilarating,” she said, describing a newfound sense of belonging, as well as deep gratitude to those who came before her to make moments of open celebration possible.

Gregory Antollino said he still remembered what his first Pride, at the age of 23 in 1988, meant to him. He had just moved to New York City, had not yet connected with the gay community and unknowingly stumbled into a Pride parade.

“I made it a holiday,” he said. “Pride was joyous.”

He has since attended Pride in London, Lisbon and Amsterdam, and he said each experience was as “magical as those in my first years in New York.”

Neil Wu-Gibbs said his first Pride in 2013, when he marched with the Gay Asian & Pacific Islander Men of New York, gave him “a sense of belonging” that helped him decide to move back from Britain to New York City.

“It was like a homecoming,” he said.

Although most Pride events were canceled in the spring over fears of large crowds spreading the coronavirus, mass gatherings have returned since Memorial Day in the form of protests in response to Black deaths.