New year, new queer: Can Pride redeem itself?

I've spent nearly every Pride in Chicago at the parade, then trapped in either a Cheetah Gym or Ann Sathers' parking lot drinking overpriced Miller Lite and waiting endlessly to use a port-o-potty. I don't care how many you have, there are simply NOT ENOUGH port-o-potties in the world to accommodate that many lesbians. I've done this willingly, enthusiastically even, but not this year. I want this Pride to be different, not just another excuse to take my pants off.

Many people, myself included, have complained that Pride has become too commercialized, as evidenced by its official sponsor Absolut Vodka, and far removed from the original intentions of community building and fighting for equal rights. We seem to be increasingly at odds with each other - the dykes got so frustrated that they created their own parade, the gay men are accused of just wanting to party, the blacks are doing a Pride of their own next week, the bisexuals are either ignored or still fighting to prove they exist, the trans folk are pissed that all anyone cares about is marriage.

I'm not saying we should all dump our Bacardi-filled water bottles and write letters to our legislators all Sunday, but we also shouldn't forget the activism and righteous anger that started the movement 40 years ago. Sure, we've had some setbacks this year (Prop 8, Obama flaking on all his LGBT promises, the fact that Carrie Prejean will not go away despite her total irrelevance) but we've also had some remarkable gains (the Northeast is now a gay marriage mecca, anti-gay statutes are slowly being whittled away, Chaz Bono has become the first high-profile trans celebrity, etc).

Nothing brings the LGBT community together like Pride, with the exception of Wicked: The Musical. So while I'm disappointed by the corporatization of the parade, I am happy at least that groups like the Chicago Women in Trade and the Righteously Outrageous Twirling Corps get their 15 minutes, even if they are wedged between a gigantic floating Chipotle burrito and a Bank of America RV.

It's great to see so many people out, hundreds of thousands of people, and the affection levels out of control. Everybody loves everybody with a kind of intensity never seen before (not even after Thursday Bingo at The Closet). Here's hoping that this year we really break down walls, even if just for a few hours, to embrace diversity in our varied and fabulous mediums.