Pride and prejudice

How’s everyone doing? Barely holding it together and on the brink of lunacy? Yep, me too. Like the rest of you, I’m bracing for… whatever happens next. To the best of my knowledge there’s never been global protests during a pandemic. I don’t think anyone’s sure what July will bring.

But life is moving on whether we’re ready or not. At this point, it feels like social distancing is a personal choice. It’s as though the seal’s been broken on quarantine. Still, many of us will continue to shelter-in-place until we can be sure the danger’s passed for us and those we care about. It’s a tough time to be someone who’s eager to get outside, but wary of exposure.

Worst of all it’s Pride month and we’ll be celebrating alone. This would have been the first year my fiance and I attended the celebrations in San Diego, but now it’s all happening online. And that’s pretty surreal.

Pride’s a 50-year-old celebration of queerness that’s meant to give us a safe space to be our authentic selves in public. And, just as importantly, it shows the public that queers aren’t strange or weird; we’re your neighbors and co-workers.

I’m saddened I won’t get to watch a Pride parade in person this year. But the shift to virtual events for the queer community comes with a silver lining: almost everybody can attend. It doesn’t matter if you’re disabled, in the closet, or if you just don’t like crowds. You can attend Pride events around the world from the comfort of your home or office this year. I think that’s pretty cool.

Ten years ago, it would have been far-fetched to imagine moving a planet’s worth of Pride celebrations online so they can be streamed to billions. Technology is lifting some of the burdens historically shouldered by the marginalized, and I’m totally here for it.

With any luck, COVID-19 will run its course soon and we can all get back to swimming in the ever-turbulent sea of humanity. But, just in case the storm doesn’t pass, it’s good to know that marginalized groups can still find ways to connect no matter what happens in the world. You can’t stop Pride.

Anyone else planning on attending any virtual Pride events this year? Hit me up on Twitter (@mrgreene1977), I’d love to hear from you.

By the numbers

Tweet thread of the week

https://twitter.com/ASlavitt/status/1270349043517005826

What to read

¯_(ツ)_/¯

The COVID-enforced cancellation of most major sports has led me to binge on sports docs to satisfy my craving for athletic competition. And some of them provide more entertainment than the action on the field.ESPN set the wheels in motion by bringing forward the release date of Michael Jordan hagiography The Last Dance. Since then, I’ve gorged on an enormous variety of docs produced by US TV giants and British broadcasters.

My favorites focus on the intersection of sports and social issues. They include The Fab Five, which exposes the financial hypocrisies of US college sports, and The Two Escobars, a tragic tale about a beloved Colombian footballer’s links to his namesake Pablo.But there have also been more humorous highlights, like I Hate Christian Laettner, which revels in resentment, and A League of Ordinary Gentlemen’s feature on bowling’s attempt at a glamorous makeover.

Now that the English Premier League is returning to renew my masochistic support of Arsenal, I’ll no longer need documentaries to get my fix of sports. But when the Gunners inevitably start losing, I’ll quickly find a film about their glory days to remind me of happier times.