Connextions Magazine: Shine Up & Out PRIDE Extra 2015

PRIDE INSERT 2015

SHINE UP & OUT PRIDE EXTRA 2015 A WORLD WITHOUT PRIDE A WORLD WITHOUT COLOR

A World Without Pride A World Without Color CONTRIBUTORS EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Manny Velasquez-Paredes CREATIVE DIRECTOR Xioger Sandoval FEATURED WRITER David Duran CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Ross Christianson Dimmi David Perry Bryan Pirolli JJ Vega Manny Velasquez-Paredes Sarah Stanley-Evan Read Connextions Magazine online: www.connextionsmagazine.com Write to us: Do you have a question or comment regarding this issue or future issues of Connextions Magazine? We would love to hear from you! E-mail responses and press releases are always welcomed. mvp@connextionsmagazine.com All submissions become the property of Connextions Magazine.

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ISSN 2160-4347 (print) ISSN 2160-4355 (online)

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ONE’S GREATNESS LIES IN ONE’S HEART By: Manny Velasquez-Paredes, Xioger Sandoval & JJ Vega

This photo editorial aims to show what a colorless world would be like. Our world is not black and white, most issues are not black and white. “Equality” should be a black and white issue - we either HAVE EQUALITY or WE DO NOT HAVE EQUALITY - that’s it. It really is that simple!

At this moment in time, we still DO NOT HAVE EQUALITY. The LGBT community is not treated equally, by laws and people, the same way that our heterosexual brothers and sisters are treated. So, if we take the topic of EQUALITY as a black and white issue, anyone with any degree of intelligence can clearly see how UNequal we are and this is why we have “PRIDE” Festivals accross the globe.

The LGBT community does not celebrate PRIDE because, we are too full of ourselves, it’s not an excuse to drink and party, although some people do.

On Saturday June 28, 1969, a police raid on the Stonewall Inn in New York City’s Greenwich Village erupted and a group of LGBT patrons who were there, decided to fight back. Perhaps not realizing at the time, their fight was a wake-up call for our community to regain our rights as human beings, to be able to gather and fight for the right to be treated as equals. And this was the beginning of PRIDE. The first PRIDE march took place a few months later, on November 2, 1969 in New York City. This would become an annual reminder to be more relevant, to be more open, to reach a greater number of people, and encompass the ideas and ideals of our larger struggles.

PRIDE started.

But what would a world without PRIDE look like? It would look unfinished. It would be a world full of deception, fears, depression, and hostility because PRIDE means acceptance, means to be happy to be who you are, you are no longer in hiding, no longer afraid someone can out you, you are now sharing your true self with others and therefore, part of the world and part of the human race.

UPDATE: This essay was originally published in the Summer Issue #18 of Connextions Magazine, published in May 2015. On June 26, 2015, the US Supreme Court ruled that Marriage Equality is now the law of the land. Pictures provided by Manny Velasquez-Paredes, Shelly Straub & Lucia Camarda. www.ConnextionsMagazine.com | Shine Up & Out Pride Extra 2015

2015 PRIDE FESTIVALS

AROUND THE WORLD JUNE 2015 Gay Pride Houston, Texas Pride Toronto, Canada Skeive Dager, Oslo, Norway Vienna Gay Pride, Vienna, Austria Gay Pride Fest Denver, Colorado Stadtfest Berlin, Germany NYC Gay Pride, New York Chicago Pride, Illinois Gay Pride London, UK Gay Pride Week / CSD Berlin, Germany Gay Pride Barcelona, Spain Gay Pride Dublin, Ireland Gay Pride Paris, France San Francisco Pride, California Seattle Pride, Washington Twin Cities Pride, Minneapolis, Minnesota

19 - 28 19 - 28 19 - 28 20 20 - 21 20 - 21 21 - 28 20 - 28 23 - 28 25 - 28 26 - 28 27 27 27 - 28 27 - 28 27 - 28

JULY 2015 1-5 3-5 4 - 12 11 - 19 17 - 18 17 - 19 17 - 26 20

Orgullo Madrid, Spain Cologne Gay Pride, Germany CSD Munich, Germany Bear Week, Provincetown, Massachusetts San Diego Pride, California CSD Frankfurt, Germany CSD Stuttgart, Germany Roze Maandag, Tilburg, Netherlands

24 Jul - 2 Aug 25 Jul - 2 Aug 25 Jul - 2 Aug 27 Jul - 1 Aug

Hamburg Pride, Germany Amsterdam Gay Pride, Netherlands Vancouver Gay Pride, Canada Stockholm Gay Pride, Sweden

AUGUST 2015 Brighton Gay Pride, UK Antwerp Pride, Belgium Reykjavik Gay Pride, Iceland Circuit Festival, Barcelona, Spain Gay Pride Copenhagen, Denmark Schwules Strassenfest, Munich, Germany Manchester Gay Pride, UK

1- 2 3- 9 4- 9 5 - 16 13 - 16 15 28 - 31

Calgary Gay Pride, Canada 28 Aug - 7 Sep SEPTEMBER 2015 Southern Decadence, New Orleans, Louisiana International Bears Week, Sitges, Spain Benidorm Gay Pride, Spain Gay Days Las Vegas, Nevada Oakland Gay Pride, San Francisco, California Las Vegas Pride, Nevada Dallas Gay Pride, Texas

2- 7 4 - 13 7 - 13 8 - 14 13 18 - 19 20

Curaรงao Gay Pride, Curaรงao 30 Sep - 4 Oct

OCTOBER 2015 Atlanta Pride, Georgia 10 - 11 Outfest, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 11 Amsterdam Leather Pride, Netherlands 22 - 26 NOVEMBER 2015 Greater Palm Springs Pride, California

6- 8

(Confirmed dates by time of publishing)