Over the past 10 or so days, I have been participating, both online and in person, in discussions about Pride. (Call it what you will — Gay Pride, Lesbian and Gay Pride, Queer Pride — it's got many names now — in Chicago, some years back, the big parade simply became the Pride Parade, to avoid all the alphabet soup, I think.) Here in Chicago, as in New York and San Francisco and some other cities, we have our Pride festivities on the last weekend of June, which honors the Stonewall Riots, which is, of course, how Pride parades began. I know some other cities have them at different times of the year.

Anyway, lots of cool people whom I respect have said they basically avoid the parade and other Pride activities. Not necessarily because they don't like crowds, but they just don't like what the parade (and other events) have turned into. Now, I imagine that complaining about the commercialization of Pride this particular Tribe is preaching to the choir, and I am one of many who disdain the senseless largely drunken embrace of the corporate takeover of our parade — but I think there's more to it than that. I mean, it's our fucking holiday! Why do we let Miller Lite and Starbucks and an endless stream of straight politicians (only some of whom are really our allies) take it over? And then I say to myself: Well, make a difference! Challenge the status quo. (Not only to make myself feel better — but to try to clue in the younger generation as to what Pride should be about. At least, according to me. ;-)

Does your city have a Dyke March? (Chicago does.) If so, I highly recommend attending. That's where you'll find all the coolest queers — the dykes, fags, trannies who know there's still work to be done. This year, Chicago's Dyke March wasn't in a "safe" queer enclave on the north side; it was in a neighborhood on the south side, one with lots of artists and a lot of Latino/a immigrants. Most of them embraced us. It was a super day, so much fun and empowering. And of course, moving it to a largely non-white neighborhood helps encourage conversations that need to happen around the racism (whether institutional or individual) in our own LGBT community.

The next day, a very small crew faeries (seven of us, men and women both) went to the big Pride Parade on Sunday dressed like corporate mascots. We did a mock wedding with a mock priest (the corporate-merger vows were hilarious, although I'll admit, we needed a bullhorn to make them heard). We got to celebrate California's gay marriage advancement (still important for many of us in terms of equal rights, whether or not we personally value the two-person marriage model) while satirizing the corporations who just tap us as a market with extra disposable income. (There's a pic in my profile, in case you're curious.)

My point is: We can stay home and gripe about what Pride has become. Or we can get busy and do something about it. Hopefully with humor — that always seems to work best. (What's the old adage? "You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.") And let us not forget, there's also, always, a place for celebration. Let's do the work AND have fun. Strive for balance!