Diversity Rules Magazine

18 Diversity Rules Magazine February 2017 Valentine's Day is known as "the most romantic day of the year." To some, it's all about the candy, the flowers, the expensive dinner, and whatever sparkling jewelry their significant other buys. Beneath the gift-giv- ing, card sending, pa- gan traditions, does anyone know how the holiday re- ally began? e origins of Valentine's Day started with a Roman festival called Lupercalia, held in February to honor Juno, the Goddess of Fertility, and to celebrate the on- coming of spring. e Romans considered this time to be a time of love, renewal and purity, and they performed many fertility rituals during the festival, such as the naked Roman men striking the women, believing they would become fertile. Furthermore, Romans would draw names out of an urn, their ver- sion of "matchmaking." Couples, resulting in many marriages, were formed by the names drawn. e name Valentine's Day was derived from St. Val- entine, a third century priest who had performed se- cret weddings, eventually killed (and martyred) on the magical date of February 14, 270. As with most holiday traditions, Valentine's Day has completely transformed into modern society to be- come a festival of spending hundreds of dollars for the one you love, driven by guilt (who wants to be in the doghouse?). e U. S. Greeting Card Associa- tion estimates that over 190 million Valentine's Day cards are sold every year, and worldwide, over $14 bil- lion is spent each year for Valentine's Day related gifts. Breaking the bank has become the way contemporary people are forced to show their love for one another. However, there is a problem with all of the propaganda of the "Love" holiday – where do the LGBT people stand when it comes to Valentine's Day? Despite the last several years of increasing LGBT visibility, the com- munity still remains largely missing from traditional media when it comes to finding images and represen- tations of themselves as romantic and loving couples. Valentine's Day isn't an exception to this rule. Back in the 1990s, when I first came out, the only man- for-man Valentine's Day cards that I could find were in specialty stores (like the now-defunct Rainbows and Triangles in NYC)whose clientele was specifically driv- en toward the gay community. Two decades later, the world hasn't changed much. Hallmark, the most well-known Greeting Card Com- pany on the planet, introduced their first "Man-for- Man" and "Woman-for-Woman" Valentine's Day cards only THREE years ago. BUT (and this is a big BUT), there were only two cards: one for the men and one for the women. If you didn't like their sole card, your alternative was to buy one of the generic cards underneath the category LOVE, with either in- tertwined flower stems or rows of red and pink flowers pictured on the cover. It wasn't until 2016 (last year) when Hallmark (finally) began running commercials that featured same sex couples. We've come a long way, but we still have a lot more work to do. e internet has made it a lot easier for us to order gay-themed Valentine gifts; but we know we've truly been accepted when we visit our local store to buy two stuffed male bunny rabbits holding hands, or we find the section of Valentine cards made for our community. at day will come! Happy Valentine's Day Everyone! Valentine's Day By Tony Guadagnino

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