Klumme
Reclaiming the Revolutionary Spirit of Pride
Marcie Bianco har været til Dyke March i Boston og reflekterer over, hvordan den markerer et politisk opgør med de voksende trusler mod LGBTQ+-rettigheder og styrker fællesskabet i en ny bølge af solidaritet og modstand.
Marcie Bianco er Ph.d., redaktør, kulturkritiker og forfatter til Breaking Free: The Lie of Equality and the Feminist Fight for Freedom.
“The only king that I will bow to is a drag king!” These words framed a cartoon drawing of a cheeky, cherub-like drag king, replete with crown and a long, rainbow-colored beard worthy of a queer sea king, on bright yellow poster board.
The sign, held aloft by a person walking ten meters in front of me at the Boston Dyke March, signaled a marked departure from those I’ve seen at other Dyke marches over the past two decades, from San Francisco to New York City. I’ve been working in lesbian media and journalism for nearly as long, reporting on the LGBTQ+ community, our politics, and our cultures for outlets like The Advocate, Out magazine, and Curve magazine, as well as mainstream outlets like MSNBC and Vanity Fair. What made the sign so unique was how it encapsulated not only the distinctive meaning of this year’s Pride Month but also queer Americans’ fierce resistance to the rising authoritarianism and fascism in the United States. This year, the stakes — for the safety and security of queer lives — feel higher than ever.
Boston’s Dyke March took place on the eve of the “No Kings” rallies, where more than 5 million people gathered at more than 2,100 locations across the country to protest US President Donald Trump’s anti-democratic executive orders and policies. In Boston, the “No Kings” organizers and Pride parade organizers combined their efforts, marching in tandem under the banner of “No King, but YAAAAS Queen!”
The unyielding anti-LGBTQ+ attacks by the current administration, as well as by the state and local governments and the courts, is unprecedented. Corporations, too, have cowardly submitted themselves to Trump, withdrawing their support to LGBTQ+ organizations.
Since none of us, as legendary lesbian-feminist poet warrior Audre Lorde told us, live single-issue lives, the combined ICE raids and abductions, the audacious lawlessness of the police, and the militarization of our public spaces have had a chilling effect on our collective sense of American freedom.
Cathy Renna, a queer media advocate who has been in the queer movement for more than 30 years, has witnessed “some of the worst bigotry stereotypes and misinformation that remind [her] of Anita Bryant and the post-Stonewall era of the 1970s, but [now it] is very focused on the trans community.”
Yet, queer Americans are meeting the moment, and in doing so are reclaiming the original, revolutionary spirit of pride embodied by queer and trans ancestors like Marsha P. Johnson, Slyvia Rivera, and Stormé DeLarverie.
“This year, Pride is rife with revolution,” says Tracy Gilchrist, vice president of editorial and special projects at equalpride, famously “in queer media,” and resident of Los Angeles. The “No Kings” protest she attended in the Culver City section of Los Angeles felt like a solidarity action, as she describes it, like “a Pride protest with ‘No Kings, Only Queens’ signs and various queer flags on display.”
Like Gilchrist, other Pride organizers and attendees articulate this moment in the language of revolution. “Showing up to Pride is more than celebration,” says Suzanne Ford, the executive director of San Francisco Pride. “It’s a revolutionary act.”
Dara Nai, the operations manager for LA Pride, noted that while this year’s Pride events were distinguished by the heightened criticism of Trump, “the shift was not what you may think. If anything,” she added, they were “more celebratory, more supportive. There was a stronger sense of community.”
Ford agrees. “There’s a deep sense of determination. We refuse to let anyone steal our joy. We’re still a community, and we’re going to stand together.”
Pride Month 2025 has become a fulcrum for a shift in LGBTQ+ politics and queer power. Pride is not an event, or a parade, or a marketing opportunity. It is the joyful expression of our collective freedom.