“Gay pride” was, I take it, the granddaddy of them all. It doesn’t seem difficult to think of some successful gay people, but here in case you’re having trouble is a very short list. Oscar Wilde, world-class playwright. Tim Cook, CEO of the world’s most successful company. Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir, prime minister of Iceland. Benjamin Britten, greatest English composer since Purcell. Freddie Mercury, rock star. Alan Turing, mathematician, computer pioneer and helped win WW2.
“Black pride” is a thing, I guess. Martin Luther King, social and political reformer. Barack Obama, president of the world’s only superpower. Desmond Tutu, archbishop. Toni Morrison, Nobel-winning writer. Neil deGrasse Tyson, astronomer and TV star. Louis Armstrong, jazz musician.
Those are actually the only two major “pride movements” I know of. There are “white pride” and “straight pride” movements, kinda, but they’re quite different in character and I think in motivation, and in any case I don’t imagine you’ll have any difficulty thinking of successful white and straight people.
I expect there’s such a thing as “trans pride”, but transness is much rarer than gayness or blackness and was socially unacceptable for longer. (Hence: fewer of them, and more obstacles to their becoming successful.) Still, off the top of my head I’ll name Wendy Carlos, musician, and Sophie Wilson, engineer, both of whom were world-famous (as men) for things that had nothing to do with gender identity before coming out as trans.
What pride movements were you thinking of that don’t have examples of successful people to look at?
Still, off the top of my head I’ll name Wendy Carlos, musician, and Sophie Wilson, engineer, both of whom were world-famous (as men) for things that had nothing to do with gender identity before coming out as trans.
Benjamin Britten, greatest English composer since Purcell.
This is nitpicking really, but ‘greatest’ according to whom? I’d say that folks like Sullivan, Elgar and Holst (not to mention Vaughan-Williams) are a lot more notable than Britten, and even if you want to restrict your attention to reasonably modern composers, Brian Ferneyhough is more worthy of attention.
Seriously: of course anyone trying to offer an actual careful assessment will say something like “one of the greatest” or “arguably the greatest” or something. As you’ll see if you follow all my links above or search the web yourself, one very common practice is to say “widely regarded as the greatest” :-). Personally I rate him well above Sullivan and Holst and roughly equal with Elgar and RVW. I don’t know enough Ferneyhough to have a useful opinion.
Well, yes; it seems that he really had a strong fanbase, mostly among his fellow musicians. But I think you may be underestimating the popularity of Elgar, Sullivan and RVW’s music (if not Ferneyhough’s). I mean, these might as well be household names among relevant audiences; you can’t really say the same for Britten. Now, if I had to mention gay composers who are genuinely notable for their musical output, I’d say Lully and (most obviously) Tchaikovsky.
Oh, really.
“Gay pride” was, I take it, the granddaddy of them all. It doesn’t seem difficult to think of some successful gay people, but here in case you’re having trouble is a very short list. Oscar Wilde, world-class playwright. Tim Cook, CEO of the world’s most successful company. Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir, prime minister of Iceland. Benjamin Britten, greatest English composer since Purcell. Freddie Mercury, rock star. Alan Turing, mathematician, computer pioneer and helped win WW2.
“Black pride” is a thing, I guess. Martin Luther King, social and political reformer. Barack Obama, president of the world’s only superpower. Desmond Tutu, archbishop. Toni Morrison, Nobel-winning writer. Neil deGrasse Tyson, astronomer and TV star. Louis Armstrong, jazz musician.
Those are actually the only two major “pride movements” I know of. There are “white pride” and “straight pride” movements, kinda, but they’re quite different in character and I think in motivation, and in any case I don’t imagine you’ll have any difficulty thinking of successful white and straight people.
I expect there’s such a thing as “trans pride”, but transness is much rarer than gayness or blackness and was socially unacceptable for longer. (Hence: fewer of them, and more obstacles to their becoming successful.) Still, off the top of my head I’ll name Wendy Carlos, musician, and Sophie Wilson, engineer, both of whom were world-famous (as men) for things that had nothing to do with gender identity before coming out as trans.
What pride movements were you thinking of that don’t have examples of successful people to look at?
Off the top of mine, Lana Wachowski.
This is nitpicking really, but ‘greatest’ according to whom? I’d say that folks like Sullivan, Elgar and Holst (not to mention Vaughan-Williams) are a lot more notable than Britten, and even if you want to restrict your attention to reasonably modern composers, Brian Ferneyhough is more worthy of attention.
Decca, some guy writing for the New York Phil, some guy writing for the Daily Telegraph, etc.
Seriously: of course anyone trying to offer an actual careful assessment will say something like “one of the greatest” or “arguably the greatest” or something. As you’ll see if you follow all my links above or search the web yourself, one very common practice is to say “widely regarded as the greatest” :-). Personally I rate him well above Sullivan and Holst and roughly equal with Elgar and RVW. I don’t know enough Ferneyhough to have a useful opinion.
Well, yes; it seems that he really had a strong fanbase, mostly among his fellow musicians. But I think you may be underestimating the popularity of Elgar, Sullivan and RVW’s music (if not Ferneyhough’s). I mean, these might as well be household names among relevant audiences; you can’t really say the same for Britten. Now, if I had to mention gay composers who are genuinely notable for their musical output, I’d say Lully and (most obviously) Tchaikovsky.
I wasn’t talking about popularity. I’m sorry if I gave the wrong impression somehow.
(But yes, in terms of popularity Tchaikovsky certainly trumps Britten.)