Welcome to West Side Story’s newest series: Points of Pride! Within this series we’ll cover all things LGBTQ+ Pride, from moments in history to information to film reviews. This week’s article is an introductory profile on Janis Ian.
It’s well-known that June is Pride Month, but not many people are aware of October’s LGBT History Month, sponsored by Equality Forum. I promise, there is a difference. During LGBT History Month, 31 public or historical figures are selected, and one day in October is dedicated to each of them. On each icons’ assigned day, videos and biographies are published on their lives and work, meant to educate LGBTQ+ people and allies on the far-reaching talents of the community. It is a celebration of heritage, history, and pride.
“I learned the truth at seventeen
That love was meant for beauty queens”
October fifteenth is dedicated to Janis Ian, a singer-songwriter of the 70s. The above quote is a lyric from her Grammy award-winning song “At Seventeen”. Its message of misplacement within society can reverberate in queer audiences, who will feel a well-founded affinity with knowing a traditional love story is hard to find in our current society. Queer romances, in high school especially, are so often interlaced with coming-out narratives and homophobia that LGBTQ+ students must make their own love stories outside of norms and idealisms. Janis Ian and her now wife Pat Snyder did just that. They married in Canada in 2003, twelve years before Obergefell v. Hodgens would legalize same-sex marriage in the United States. George R. R. Martin, author of the Game of Thrones book series, served as the best man. The entire wedding party wore hawaiian shirts, and they later attended a sci-fi writers convention in Toronto. Janis Ian made her own happiness, in her own way, and that’s the truth we should all hope to learn at seventeen.
For more information on the life and times of Janice Ians, check out the official LGBT History Month website!