| In 2009, over six million people attended an LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) Pride parade in 110 cities in the U.S. This dissertation is the first comprehensive sociological study of the Pride parade phenomenon. I draw together observations of six LGBT Pride parades across the country, interviews with parade participants, and content analysis of crowd photographs. I add to this an investigation of the first Pride events in New York City and Los Angeles in 1970. Integrating cultural sociology with the study of social movements, I describe Pride parades as cultural protest tactics that aim to achieve cultural, rather than legal/political, equality. I examine both external and internal dimensions of Pride parades. Externally, I analyze the cultural messages communicated through these events and the ways these messages contest wider culture. Internally, I analyze the ways that Pride parades are a site to build collective identity among LGBT people and their straight allies. I conclude by outlining a theoretical framework for the study of other cultural protest tactics and suggest multiple avenues for future research. |
