Newark-Essex Celebrates Pride
Monday, June14, 2010 5:29:59 PM

This month is Pride month and communities all over the world are celebrating with marches, festivals, parades, vigils, and speeches. Newark, NJ held its sixth annual Pride activities yesterday. A small, but lively crowd of about 50 marchers paraded the streets of Newark, chanting, “Say it loud. We’re gay and we’re proud!” and the less traditional, “We’re here, we’re queer, and we aren’t going shopping.”

The African American Office of Gay Concerns, the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey, Liberation in Truth Unity Fellowship Church, the gay-straight alliance at Science Park High School, and students from Rutgers Law School accounted for the bulk of the parade.

Marlen Rosas, a senior at Science Park High School said of her group’s involvement in the parade, “I definitely think it is important because our high school is the only high school in Newark with a gay-straight alliance. I think it is really important that we participate as much as possible and also help other schools create gay-straight alliances.”

In a city where over half of the population is Black, there were many groups at Pride examining the intersection of the Black community and the gay community.

Wali Bardley, a staff member at the African American Office of Gay Concerns said that his group provides a safe space for people to discuss being both Black and gay. “We talk about dual identity: what it feels like to be gay, what it feels like to be Black, and what it feels like to be gay and Black.”

Bardley said that the Black and gay communities are beginning to live more harmoniously. “The [Black] community is starting to open up. I think there is still a lot of work that needs to be done, but once both communities get over the shock that we’re both being ostracized at the same time, we will get along better.”

The Liberation in Truth Unity Fellowship Church was founded fifteen years ago as a church for gay and lesbian Christians, and according to the pastor, Reverand Janyce Jackson, nearly all of the congregation is Black.

She said fifteen years ago, it was a challenge to fill the church because Newark residents and members of the Black, Christian community was not ready to come out and be public. “It was a challenge fifteen years ago, but here we are today having a Pride event. What it means for the city is that it is a more open and accepting community. It makes the city a more wholesome and more loving place and a safe place for more people.”

She added, “The message of justice is resonating. One day, we will all be celebrating- gay, straight, Christian, Jewish, and Muslim. That’s the ultimate goal.”

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