Why Black Pride?

This past weekend was Charlotte Black Gay Pride. Now, we've had people ask us, isn't regular gay pride enough? Why have a black gay pride?

There's no reason, of course.

Or rather, there's no reason beyond the one to have any pride celebration: to be visible, to share community, to support each other and let the world know we exist.

The gay community is often seen as being primarily male and white. As such, it's important for for other groups, like people of color (POC), to be seen within the greater LGBT movement.

Being a minority within a minority is tough. I mean, which bigotry do you reject and address first? It's not an either/or situation. POC are POC. Gay people are gay people. Gay POC are gay POC. None of us are portions of ourselves - we're all total human beings with varied aspects.

Having a celebration like Charlotte Black Gay Pride lets us acknowledge all of those elements and not focus on one. We need these events. In fact, we could use more of them, like trans pride, Jewish pride, family pride, etc.

We're all in the struggle for gay equality. We can best come together by acknowledging - and celebrating - our differences. We can and should be proud of everything about ourselves. Black gay pride isn't about being separatist or exclusive, but rather the opposite. It's about unity and a common human cause, despite superficial differences.

Check out ENC's upcoming blog on Charlotte Black Pride later this week.