A Moment of Pride

Reflection by Gabino Cabanilla (Dignity/Los Angeles)

Born and raised in southern Louisiana about 25 miles for the Gulf of Mexico has more to do with tradition and food than understanding that you are as a gay person. But, when I grew up and knew that New Orleans was only 60 miles north, I looked forward to the day that I could meet others with the same enthusiasm about promoting individuality and creating positive gay role models. Alas, my first experience in New Orleans was attending a bar containing selfish, and not so lovely, drag queens, bar flies and call boys. This was not the gay experience I would classify as a pivotal pride moment.

The years passed and I finally got the opportunity to attend gay pride in San Francisco. During the parade, I witnessed a political statement of solidarity for who we really can become, hundreds of men and women with a common bond and, most of all, many people from small towns realizing that they were one of the many threads in that bond and not alone. I was one of them and not afraid to admit it.

It is said that “Jesus told his apostles that people who seek only themselves come to ruin. Those who deny themselves for his sake discover themselves” (Matthew 10:37-42). Today’s legislative bodies think only of the majority and preserving their own mode of living while sacrificing any shred of decency others may share. We, as glbt people, have come a long way in understanding that we are a great force to be reckoned with in America and the world. We are advocates in a movement to reform and God invites us to join the movement, the swaying, the feeling of being in harmony with something larger than ourselves. It is a rare group that can stand linked arm in arm in a circle and not being to sway.

Today, we have great glbt role models in government, medicine, sports, education and all fields and we have listened and learned from them and we are hungry for more role models. History repeatedly has shown that people hunger for something larger than themselves. Leaders who offer that will have no shortage of followers. In fact, higher purpose is such a vital ingredient to the human psyche that a Scripture says, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” We are people of pride and fought long and hard for where we are today. As Catholics with pride, we have a vision; we can see the bigger picture—the light at the end of the tunnel is very, very close at hand.