Sober Pride
What Pride Month means to this sober, straight ally
Before we officially close out June, I want to acknowledge Pride Month.
In general, June is a good time. The Summer Solstice, my birthday, the end of school (School’s out for summah… read with an Alice Cooper head bang). Add Pride, the global celebration and observance held every June to honor the LGBTQ+ community, and well, the party that is June gets kicked up a notch.
BTW, I know it’s a global celebration because my family happened to wander into a Pride Parade during a vacation in Paris in 2016. That was a scene! I went looking to see if I had any photos from the parade, but I could only find this one of Hôtel de Ville decorated with pride banners.
I’m straight, so I can’t speak to any experience about being gay and getting sober in Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). But I know that just as there are specific meetings for men and specific meetings for women, there are also specific meetings for the LGBTQ community. AA’s Word Service meeting app allows you to search for them.
That makes me happy.
And although the Big Book, AA’s foundational text, was written in 1938 and is generally filled with outdated language and ideas — just look at the chapter “To the Wives,” as if only men can be alcoholics — small changes are being made.
The AA preamble, a short definition of AA’s main purpose, read at the opening of many meetings, used to say “Alcoholics Anonymous is a fellowship of men and women…” In 2021, at the 71st General Service Conference, after a series of votes, a final Advisory Action requested replacing the words “men and women” with the word “people.”
Small steps in the right direction. I hope we continue to make these changes so that all people feel included and welcomed in recovery.
Love is love. Happy Pride Y’all!
I’m currently writing this in a hotel room in Ottawa, and I was so happy to look out the window and see this Pride flag flapping in the breeze!
Disclaimer: To err is human. Please excuse any typos or grammatical errors. It’s proof there’s an actual human being behind the Substack.
Love this, Liz!
In 2019, I happened to be in Amsterdam during Pride Week. I also happened to be there during a “historic heat wave”. I use quotes because I think heat waves are the new normal, unfortunately. Anyway, my third floor flat had no AC and no fans. I opened the windows hoping for a breeze. Pride Week revelers sang, shouted, laughed, and otherwise caroused their way along the canals late into the night. Not great for sleeping but a happy memory nonetheless.