On July 29, 1969, Neil Armstrong stepped out of the Apollo 11 spacecraft, placed his foot and an American flag on the moon's surface and proclaimed the moment as "One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."

One month earlier on June 28, several drag queens stepped out of a gay bar in New York's Greenwich Village and, rather than cooperate with the police who had come to arrest them, pelted the cops with hair curlers, compacts, and bobby pins. It was the beginning of a five day riot in protest of the harassment that the Stonewall Inn's homosexual patrons had long endured at the hands of the law. The Stonewall was allegedly raided due to its lack of a liquor license, but the queens and their admirers who gathered there knew they were routinely rounded up because they were fags.

Some of the "girls" got together for an impromptu song:

"We are the Stonewall girls
We wear our hair in curls...
We wear our dungarees
Above our nelly knees."

If those words do not resonate with the power of Armstrong's carefully scripted statement, the impact of Stonewall was immediate, and it was clear that homosexuals and all those who cross the line dividing "masculine" and "feminine" had made a giant leap of their own.

Exactly one year later, the United States's first Gay Pride march was held in five U.S. cities, including New York. By 1973, there would be 80 gay and lesbian organizations in the U.S. Now, of course, there are several thousand, and homosexual behavior, though still denounced by politicians and preachers, has been decriminalized in many American states. And the June Gay Pride parade is a tradition in cities throughout the country.

The statement, "You've come a long way, baby" from the old Virginia Slims ad campaign was directed at women, but it applies to queers, too. From sneaking sex in seedy movie theaters, parks, and public restrooms to proudly and publicly proclaiming our sexual orientation, we have yet to win the war, but we can claim victory in innumerable battles.

If you've never participated in a Pride parade, why not do it this year? Whether you're looking for love, friendship, or a sense of community, there's no better place to find it, and by participating, you play an important role in helping to end discrimination and hatred against all sexual minorities. Simply by making yourself visible, you are making a contribution. There is strength in numbers.

To be fair, not everyone believes the Pride parade is positive. Charles Karel Bouley, in a piece written last year for the Advocate's web edition, admits he no longer takes part. "We scream that we are the same as our heterosexual counterparts, and then we throw events to show them exactly how different we are. We put our sexual fetishes on parade in front of hundreds of thousands and call it pride."

But what Bouley seems to find offensive about Pride parades is the participation of drag queens not unlike the man in the pink gown who sprinkled fairy dust on the mayor during Cleveland's Pride celebration last summer. In other words, he finds fault with drag queens like those at Stonewall whose courageous act of civil disobedience made the modern Gay Liberation Movement possible. Like many of the gay men who always insist on describing themselves as "straight acting," Bouley apparently doesn't like anything that promotes what he sees as homosexual stereotypes, but he doesn't mind tasting the fruit of their labors. He also fails to acknowledge that Pride attracts a variety of gays and lesbians. Pride does not highlight how different we are, only how diverse. The same is true of any event staged by a minority.

And contrary to what Bouley claims, there are those of us who do not "scream that we are the same as our heterosexual counterparts." Gays who have reclaimed the word "queer" to describe themselves are admitting (whether they know it or not) they are not the same as heterosexuals, and are, indeed, different. Tammy Bruce, the controversial feminist and lesbian author of The New Thought Police, spoke for many of us when she wrote, "I like being different. I like deviating from the norm."

The goal of Pride should not be "acceptance" anyway. The purpose should be to affirm our existence and to demand acceptance of our right to live as we please and to be who we are without fear. We can run. We may even be able to hide, and in the past we have done both. We march because we are no longer willing to do either. The "self evident" truths in the Constitution that "all men are created equal" and have an inalienable right to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" refers to everyone who makes his home beneath the banner of the red, white, and blue, and that includes those of us who may prefer pink and lavender. Like Christmas, Pride comes but once a year, so participate and keep the spirit alive all year long.

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