Written by: Anushka Basnet - 2023002, Grade IX
Posted on: 12 October, 2020
Pride Month also is known as a month dedicated to the LGBTQ+ community falls in the month of June. Looking back, Pride month started from Greenwich Village when police raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay club in Greenwich Village, which resulted in bar patrons, staff, and neighborhood residents rioting onto Christopher Street outside. Among the many leaders of the riots were black, transsexual, bisexual women which were led by Marsha P. Johnson which continued over six days with protests and clashes.
Today, celebrations include pride parades, picnics, parties, workshops, symposia and concerts, and LGBTQ+ Pride Month events attract millions of participants around the world. Memorials are held during this month for those members of the community who have been lost to hate crimes for being people of the LGBTQ+ community or HIV/AIDS. The purpose of the commemorative month is to recognize the impact that LGBTQ+ individuals have had on history locally, nationally, and internationally. LGBT Stands for Lesbian (women attracted to women), Gay (men attracted to men), bisexual (a person attracted to both the sexes) and transgender (a person whose sense of personal identity and gender does not correspond with their birth sex). The term sometimes is extended to LGBTQ+, or even LGBTQIA, to include queer, intersex, and asexual groups. Queer is an umbrella term for non-straight people; intersex refers to those whose sex is not clearly defined because of genetic, hormonal, or biological differences; and asexual describes those who don't experience any sort of sexual attraction. In 1978, artist and designer Gilbert Baker was commissioned by San Francisco city supervisor Harvey Milk - one of the first openly gay elected officials in the US - to make a flag for the city's upcoming Pride celebrations. Baker, a prominent gay rights activist, gave a nod to the stripes of the American flag but drew inspiration from the rainbow to reflect the many groups within the gay community. A subset of flags represents other sexualities on the spectrum, such as bisexual, pansexual, and asexual. Pride events welcome allies from outside the LGBTQ+ community. They are opportunities to show support, to observe, listen, and be educated. June 29 is said to be the day for the parade in Nepal. Many people are now comfortable with their gender no matter what it is, although it is difficult to be who you truly are.
Many Nepalese are now not scared to come out as a member of the LGBTQ+ community which is a thing to be proud of but there are still many who are afraid of getting judged for not getting accepted by the society, they are bullied and are victims of hate speech/crime. Especially in an Arab or South Asain household, (where patriarchy is prevalent) not conforming to heteronormativity is considered extremely offensive and sometimes even a crime. They are sometimes even disowned by their family. There have been many cases in which people kill those who are LGBTQ+ which is a shameful thing, killing another human being just because they are different. LGBTQ+ communities should be normalized in every society and should be given equal rights. Words like “gay”, “chhaka”, “hijada” etc have been widely used by the Nepali/Indian community as insults which have to be put to a stop.
Change comes from us, let us change ourselves to change the world. Let’s stop using hate slurs and in time people will realize that it is wrong if not the younger generation will not dare use those words to insult someone.
