Magyar
June is a celebration of Pride: the movement for the self-respect, dignity and equality for the LGBTQ+ community around the world. On this occasion, we will use thematic questionnaires to assess the opinions of our users in the Pulzus application, and we will analyze the collected data in a series of articles published on our website on a weekly basis.
For a very long time, the pink triangle was the symbol of gay communities, as it was used during the war by the Nazis to label homosexuals in concentration camps. But this symbol was poisoned by the memory of repression, so for the 1978 San Francisco parade, influential gay opinion leader Harvey Milk asked Gilbert Baker to come up with a new, more positive motif that would radiate “new homosexual consciousness and freedom”. Baker was influenced by the vibrant colours of the libertine hippie movement of the sixties, and the songs of Judy Garland and The Rolling Stones. The original flag was eight-coloured, and its six-coloured version became the Pride emblem that is popular today. Each color carries the following meanings: Info corner:
What does the rainbow flag symbolize?
The road to freedom
Until the 1960s, homophobic legal systems were in place around the world that considered homosexuality a crime and a mental illness, and those caught in the act were subject to prison sentences, electroshock therapy, lobotomies, other compulsory treatments, and even castration. For this reason, gay communities were usually confined to bars and nightclubs run by the underworld. The had to gather in secret to spend time freely with each other without social judgment.
One such safe medium was the Stonewall Inn in New York, which became the scene of a police raid on June 28 1969. These kinds of raids were commonplace at the time. As they did in all such cases, the moral policing squad lined up all the people in the bar, and then, according to procedure, began to verify the identity of the guests. Men dressed as women were escorted to the washroom, one by one, for a short check, so that those dressed contrary to their biological sex could be arrested immediately. But then members of the community began to protest against the degrading treatment and the escalating police brutality. As the prisoner transport vehicles were delayed, police took people to the streets, where other sympathizers and onlookers joined them, increasing crowds and confusion. In the end, the whole thing turned into a riot and a series of days of protests demanding equal rights, thus starting the tradition of taking to the streets for gay rights.
Pride instead of shame
Until the Stonewall riots, homosexuality was completely taboo. Members of the gay community, living double lives, hid their identity as a blemish, and feared that their lives would be ruined if their secret was revealed. As long as the basic pillar of social judgment had been that homosexuality is a “decision” or an “aberration” that needs to be educated or removed from the population, there was no chance of moving public opinion towards acceptance, as everyone affected feared for their lives and of being penalized. It would be good to say that this view has now changed radically, but unfortunately there are still individuals and groups who stick to the homophobic social ideas of fifty years ago.
However, the riots were successful in a sense that they broke the silence, surfaced the difficulties of the people who had lived until then in total oppression, and the long process of developing empathy through the spread of information began around the world. The initial upset revolts, under the understanding hand of international leaders of the movement, have become thoughtful, peaceful, legal demonstrations that promote non-confrontational education. Their central idea has become identity, dignity and pride going beyond shame and denial. They fight for a society in which individuals do not have to fear punishment for assuming their identity in front of others.
Weekly public opinion poll
In the second week of Pride month, we asked the following questions in the Pulzus app:
• If you see two people of the same sex kissing each other on the street does it shock you?
• If your (hypothetical) child befriends a peer in kindergarten whose parents are a same-sex couple, what would you do?
• If your (hypothetical) child came out to you as a member of the LGBTQ+ spectrum, how would you react?
Comparing the results of the first and third questions, we can see how different the perception of respondents is when they see strangers on the street versus when they imagine themselves in the position of the parent of an affected person:
The results also show the double standard that sharply separates the tolerance surrounding homosexual relationship between same-sex women and the prejudice against homosexual relationship between men of the same sex. For some reason, society is more tolerant of lesbianism than gay men.
The detailed results of the survey conducted in the application can be viewed in the diagrams below.
If you see two people of the same sex kissing each other on the street does it shock you?
If your (hypothetical) child befriends a peer in kindergarten whose parents are a same-sex couple, what would you do?
If your (hypothetical) child came out to you as a member of the LGBTQ+ spectrum, how would you react?
Next week we will provide more thematic questions and analysis. Join us to find out more about the topic!
Download the Pulzus application, take part in our surveys, and we will reward you for it! For your answers, you get Pulzus points you can exchange for valuable prizes.
Be an influencer, share your opinion today!
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