For an uncomfortable Pride

Forty-six years ago, more than five thousand people marched through Las Ramblas in Barcelona, called by the Front d'Alliberament Gai de Catalunya, to demand the repeal of the Law of Social Dangerousness. The slogan of that first Pride demonstration organized throughout the State was "nosaltres no tenim por, nosaltres som" ("we are not afraid, we are"). For the first time, the LGBT collective emerged from clandestinity and occupied public space to demand their rights. Although the police harshly repressed the protest and, of course, not everyone looked favorably on that gang of "vagrants and delinquents" parading through the city center, that first great act of LGBT visibility marked a before and after for the collective.

If the contemporary history of Barcelona had to be told with a few photographs, I have no doubt that one of these images would be the one taken by the great Isabel Steva, artistically known as Colita, at the historic demonstration of that June 26, 1977. In the foreground, a group of brave transsexual women appear with their arms raised and conviction etched on their faces. They are the embodiment of the banner that appears behind them, that "nosaltres no tenim por, nosaltres som" ("we are not afraid, we are").

We are where we are and we have achieved everything we have achieved, above all, thanks to them. Thanks to the lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transsexuals who almost half a century ago overcame fear and took to the streets to proclaim to the four winds: we are who we are, we are proud to be so, and we demand that our rights be respected. Thanks to all those who, despite the beatings, insults, contempt, mockery, incomprehension, and reprisals, went out year after year to the streets to force society to see and respect us. Even if it didn't want to. Because with "I'm gay, but I don't have to tell everyone," "nobody has to know who I sleep with," or "I'm a lesbian, but I don't like to brag about it," we would have gone nowhere. We have advanced by making people uncomfortable, we would do well to remember that. 

The Pride of "not a paper on the floor," of "Love is Love," or of the pinkwashing by companies and institutions doesn't bother anyone, because it questions nothing and, as things stand (increase in LGTBIphobic aggressions, entry of the far-right into some local and regional governments...), we still need an uncomfortable Pride. Especially because for certain people, no matter what we do, our mere existence already makes them uncomfortable.