I love celebrating Gay Pride Month every June!
I am not even going to address the asinine haters who question why we need Pride Month. I want my comments to go to the LGBTQIA+ community.
Yeah – we need it because we still confront oppression. We celebrate the past and those who fought for our rights! We must never forget that they literally risked their lives for it. And we remind ourselves that the fight continues. The last couple years showed us all too well that sexism, racism, classicism, antisemitism, all the hateful isms – plus Islamophobia and homophobia – still exist. Pride is a time when we tell the world we will continue to resist and fight.
It’s also a time for personal celebration. For all of us to remember the power of coming out, or to help those in the process of coming out. I went to my first Pride Celebration in the early 1990s in Denver. I loved the feeling of community, of not being alone with my thoughts, my dreams, and my struggles. That holds true today! And Pride lets the community gather to celebrate who we are, to to help us all feel less afraid and alone.
So Happy Pride Month! Let’s Fight and Celebrate and Love!! Together.