Over the past year, I had the esteemed pleasure of working with Andrew Robbles and many other young LGBT community members in organizing Philadelphia’s first-ever Youth Pride, which took place July 5 as part of the city’s massive celebration of the 50 years since LGBT activists first championed equality here in the city. The decision behind a youth-focused Pride event came from the fact that most Prides feature older, and often drunk, LGBT people. Instead, this was a zone for the youth to be able to celebrate being out with people their own age. I was one of the performers at the festival, in which many gave awesome and fierce performances with lip synching and singing. There were interesting and educational workshops, food, drinks and more!
These are the remarks I was fortunate enough to deliver:
“Hello everybody and happy Pride day! Thank you for joining me on this historic Pride day, as well as the first-ever Youth Pride in Philadelphia. Today we celebrate the 50 years since the first LGBT activists here in Philadelphia championed for rights. I was actually at an exhibit at the National Constitution Center and saw how LGBT people have moved forward in history. Back in the 1950s and ’60s, when activists first started campaigning, we were considered mentally disabled to the point of which they would have thrown us in a mental asylum and lobotomized us — people like me, like you and you and you.
But we do not live in that time any more. We live in a time in which just last month the United States Supreme Court decided that gay marriage can be legal in every single state! That’s the time we live in now, and there’s a reason why we have progressed so much in the span of 50 years — which is, in all respects, a blink of an eye in human existence.
And do you know why that is? It’s the same exact force that made Shah Jahan build the beautiful Taj Mahal for his departed wife. It’s the same force that made Dante peril though all nine levels of hell for his Beatrice. It’s the same thing that has given birth to poetry, songs, art, everything that we’ve come to associate with beauty on earth. And that’s love. Pure, raw, beautiful love — the thing that everyone knows but nobody can explain what it is. And that amazing, beautiful, powerful force is what has guided us here today and will continue to guide us.
But there’s still a lot to go. Our trans brothers and sisters are still being murdered in the streets. We still do not have equality in the workplace; gay people can be fired by their employers. But I dare say that we can still go forward and I have no doubt that we can not only move forward but strive in doing so. And eventually, all those who doubted us and thought we were immoral and sinful, they are the ones who will be villainized in the history books.
And also to anyone here today who has ever been teased or bullied like myself — maybe you were called a dyke, a faggot, flaming or some other hateful thing — let me say this: You are flaming. You are a fire! You are a beautiful, eternal, uncontrollable fire and you shall burn throughout all of history. It is the fire of your love, your passion and yourself that shall be burned throughout eternity and shall reign forever. So enjoy the day everybody, and enjoy being yourself. There are seven billion people on this planet and not one of them has the same face. Never doubt yourself, never deny being yourself and always be yourself.”
I feel honored to be able to have given these words, I thank all those who helped plan this event, including participants and the attendees. I am already looking forward to planning and seeing all the awesome performers for next year’s Youth Pride!
Sean Morris is an incoming senior at Science Leadership Academy.