This rolled across my Twitter feed day or two ago and I have such mixed feelings.
Mostly, as a bisexual person in a straight-passing relationship, I find it a bit hurtful to have someone say that me walking with my boyfriend is somehow an expression of straight pride. Like, I get that the whole thing is satire/comedy, and most of it is varying degrees of fucking hilarious, but that part gets a little too close to the gatekeeping surrounding some queer events where straight-passing queer couples/individuals are made to feel unwelcome. So that part could have been executed better.
Hell, I have mixed feelings on the whole concept of straight pride in general:
On one hand, it's really tone deaf for people to call for a straight pride parade IN JUNE. I'm not entirely surprised, because 'Murrca, but still tone deaf. On the other, I think it's important to let people celebrate their identities regardless of what those identities are, long as it's not done at the expense of more marginalized people (which scheduling a straight pride parade during Pride month is - thus inappropriate). If you can celebrate your heterosexuality without ragging on queer identities, go the fuck ahead, any other time of the fucking year. (And yes, I realize that the people calling for such a parade most likely would be ragging on queer identities; this is more a reflection on the conceptual viability of the whole thing.)
Part of my reasoning comes down to the fact that not all soul-searching ends up in rainbow land in the end. While I do not know them personally, I have had recounted to me the story of a personal friend of the speaker who spent a number of years experimenting with their sexuality in search of themselves. Eventually, they found themselves, and that happened to be "straight." To me that person has put in enough legwork to
earn some pride.
But I also get pretty incensed at Pride-related gatekeeping in general. If people want to turn up and look at the floats and things, let them. If people want to turn up and show their support of the community, let them. If people feel that they fit under the umbrella that Pride represents, don't go quibbling and trying to push them out. Making Pride about exclusion just feels so incredibly backwards to me.
I'm still trying to work up the nerve to come out (at least as poly) to my extended family - in large part because I'm currently
living with boyfriend and it feels kinda shitty to him to have him be "Alex's friend." The idea of combining this with a belated birthday party has been toyed with.
Which is less, I suppose, about big glammy celebrations of gayness (which admittedly sound fucking awesome), and more about combining coming out with any kind of celebration. Though to me it would also be a bit of a celebration of our relationship at that point.