Happy Pride
This past weekend was the anniversary of Stonewall. We decorated the front of our townhouse to wish all our neighbors a happy pride.
Happy Pride – 2026
My first Pride march was in New York City around 1981. I’m a very different person than I was then. I remember thinking that my picture might show up in a newspaper article. The thought occurred to me that my mom or one of my siblings might see that I was at a gay event. I wasn’t out at the time.
I will be forever grateful for all the shoulders on which I got to stand. Shoulders that boosted me into a place where I could love who I am…have pride in who I am. I couldn’t imagine a life without QueerJoe.
Two brief stories, if you’ll indulge me.
My Coming Out
My junior year in college, I finally realized my attraction to men wasn’t a phase. My dorm roommate was gay and I finally came out to him. I also eventually bolstered the courage to ask him to take me to the local gay bar, Manny’s Den in New Brunswick, NJ. I was a bit terrified. The minute I walked into the bar we sat at a booth. In the booth next to us were four extremely ebullient guys. Their dress, the way they spoke and the way they interacted made one bold statement…”I am free.” I remember thinking, “If these guys can be any way they want to be in here, then I can be any way I want to be.” This was truly my coming out.
My Pride in All of Us
Despite having gotten my courage from some very effeminate men at my first gay bar, I had a lot of disdain for such ostentatious displays of “gay behavior.” I used to say often, “I’m attracted to men. Why would I want a man who acted like a woman?” I was clearly still working on my own self-loathing. Then I had the opportunity to see the movie, The Naked Civil Servant, the story of Quentin Crisp. It’s difficult to watch that movie without realizing he had more balls than I would ever have. If you consider bravery a manly characteristic, he was also way more manly than I was. Apologies for the broad generalizations of gender ideas that I had going through my head back then. But again, it took someone with true dignity to show me who I wanted to be.
I love who I have become over these decades since coming out. The gratitude I have for the people who came before me is immense.
Current Knitting
I was able to finish the third keyhole scarf in the very bulky red/orange yarn.
It’s the one in the middle. Even though I made the middle section longer, I forgot that the reduction of six stitches in the width would also shorten the sections where I increase and decrease at the beginning and the end. so this one is still shorter than the regular design.
In light of pride weekend, I also decided to use up the rest of the Harmony colorway yarn by Urth. I started a new hat.
This is the QueerJoe’s Simple Hat design. I didn’t have enough rainbow yarn for the entire hat, so I added a charcoal ribbing.
In case you’re wondering, the hat photo was taken on a completed deck (after refinishing).
Both decks (upper and lower) look very similar to what they used to look like. But this deck will require a significantly less amount of maintenance.
Thank you, Joe, for your coming out story so succinctly yet movingly told. Though I’m a few years older, I still recall in great detail the first time I marched in what was then called The Christopher Street Liberation March. I believe it was the second commemorative demonstration, not a parade as it has since become. We marched north from the West Village up Fifth Avenue. The most stirring memory of that day was stopping in front of the NY Public Library at 42nd Street, turning back to view a sea of folks all the way down the slope downtown. I was fortunate to grow up in NYC, having graduated from high school just before the Stonewall riots. Little mention of the facts except in the Village Voice. Cheers to you and your lovely readers!