First Impressions: ‘Twas the Night Before Pride
Rebecca Bauer
I remember the first time I saw the television show the Fosters. Even though I’d been consuming LGBTQ+ media for a couple years by then, this was the first time that I saw two Moms heading a household, making meals together in the kitchen and just being Moms. I hadn’t noticed the gaping hole in representation that had been there, until the show filled it.
I felt this way about ‘Twas the Night Before Pride as well. Having been on the Pride & Less Prejudice team for a couple of years, I have read many, many LGBTQ+ focused kids’ books, but this one made me feel seen.
I have long said Pride should be recognized as an actual holiday that LGBTQ+ people observe. As a Jew, I have a lot of practice at celebrating holidays that people don’t acknowledge – but at least there’s a general understanding that Rosh Hashanah and Passover are holidays. For Pride, people are much less sure. Is it just a big party? A reason to go out drinking? People don’t seem to have the same issues with other celebratory holidays like Purim or St. Patrick’s Day. In my experience, Pride stands alone.
When Pride weekend comes around in DC, I want my straight coworkers to know. I want them to ask about my celebrations, my rituals. I want them to wish me a happy Pride. Finally, in ‘Twas the Night Before Pride, I got my wish. Clearly creating a parallel between Christmas and Pride, even the title acknowledges the importance of the holiday in a way that made me feel seen.
As the book continues, the fun, rhyming story captures the exciting and whimsical nature of Pride, as well as its more serious and meaningful origins. One of my favorite phrases is, “She’s that kind of mom who’s more boyish than girly.” I immediately gravitated toward that description, which felt so genuinely created by a child. They weren’t dissecting gender identity, but rather making a quick comment about their mom’s attribute, while acknowledging that there were other moms like her.
When I got to the page, where the whole family sits on the couch, and the child asks their moms to “tell the whole story” of Pride before their siblings’ first celebration, it hit me clearly. This is the book I want to read to my child. Seeing that scene, even in cartoon form, is something I had never seen. A family celebrating Pride together, like a holiday, treating it with reverence and acknowledging its rich history. That same night, I sat my wife down and smiled as I read it aloud. There’s power in having children see themselves in these picture books, but at that moment it was clear there’s power in them for us too.
