Community Pride Groups Help Make Change
What is “Community Pride”? I think in the context of the LGBTQ it is a combination of stereotypes, truths, contradictions and drag queens. Anyone who has any experience within the community can recognize it sight unseen: the effusive interactions, over-the top grandeur and effete snobbery; but also the loving camaraderie. Oh, but let’s not be forgetting the T in the equation! Somehow we crept in. Thems that are male and female by turns.
When I first came out, and felt I belonged in the “Community,” I hung with the “T’s –it was what I related to. And back in the early 1990s, I don’t recall much mingling at all. Social groups like Renaissance or Transpitt were exclusive T enclaves. But that was because the groups were a treasure trove of enlightenment to them that knew and those that wanted to know. Today’s social groups are largely the private group meetings held in homes or motels, and the meetings have been more geared toward other pleasures of the flesh.
Well, that kind of thing was bound to happen – thankfully! But another type of group came around: the political advocacy group. I stumbled into one such group based in Woodbury, NJ – the Woodbury Community Pride or WCP committee. This group had an agenda that was partly business oriented and nondiscrimination in character. Their motto was “Prosperity through Equality.” The group positions itself in a positive light and is a strong advocacy group for LGBT/mainstream interactions. The WCP sponsors numerous entertainment activities running the gamut from outdoor BBQ events to drag bingo –all open to LGBT or not. One such event was a standup comedy show featuring up and coming talent—at the Legion Hall! The group was noticed by the mayor, and she was very supportive of our outreach efforts, and the chief of police went out of his way to express his interest in training the rank and file of the officers under his command regarding issues relating to transgender individuals. By happenstance, there ended up being three attorneys on the board, and we (I) felt that legal instruction on transgender issues would be a good way to generate CLE points, and the Gloucester County Bar Association agreed to sanction the project.
The highlight of every June was the WCP Gala, a catered blowout event featuring the LGBT Community, along with the political class. Everyone and anyone who was someone could be seen there. Other events were conceived and created, such as an LGBT Film Festival that focuses on film shorts addressing LGBT issues. The Festival is in its third year.
But alas, everything ends. As it was, the chairman of the WCP and his husband announced that they had “given suburbia a chance,” and opted to resume the city life they loved. The WCP continues on in the form of the Gala and the film festival, which will take place at Rowen University this year. In this year of Covid-19, nothing is left unscathed. The WCP gala will not be held in June this year; it has been moved to 12/5/20, and has been renamed the Pride Prom. But, as far as the gala and film festival go, the advocacy function lives on through the messages incorporated in those activities. The messages made at those events are unmistakably those of an organization with more things to say and more things to do. Don’t discount the viability of an advocacy group like the Woodbury Community Pride.
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Category: Transgender Opinion
About the Author (Author Profile)
Kristine Holt hails originally from Northwest Pennsylvania, where her career as a social worker was suddenly ended in 1992 when she was fired for transitioning on the job. Seeking greener pastures, she relocated to Philadelphia to attend Temple Law school. A couple years after she landed in Philly, a lawsuit she had filed against her employer came due, and she ultimately settled for enough funds to take that last step in her transition. Thus proving that what goes around, comes around.Subscribe
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