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Gay Pride Picture Analysis

Decent Essays

Growing up in a very Republican suburb of Chicago, I hid in the closet until my junior year of high school (2016). I lived with this secret for a long time and coming out and being true to myself was a scary but joyous process. This picture symbolizes the happiness of embracing and enjoying who you are on the inside. Everything in this picture ties back to the theme of pride. Upon reverse searching this image on google, I found out that it was taken on June 26th of 2016 at the Chicago pride parade by Michael Tercha for the Chicago Tribune and published the following year (Chicago Tribune). This picture led me to the question: How does this image of happiness within a gay pride parade portray the wider acceptance of difference in today’s society? Being a member of the LGBTQ community, I noticed the word PRIDE and automatically associated it with the phrase “gay pride.” Noticing that word and some gay pride flags being held by people behind barriers, I came to the conclusion that this was a gay pride parade. The Chicago Tribune article confirmed this theory. This picture made me think about the LGBTQ group as a whole, and question the happiness of the people photographed. I assumed this parade pictured represents the acceptance of difference in modern society. Nadine Milde’s essay explores how “queer styles” are being used by the consumer industry because of the constant search for difference. She states, “queerness sold as a style, openly called ‘homosexual’ but detached

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