Why Do We Need Pride Month Anyways?
Updated: Aug 8, 2021
I once overheard some of my fellow classmates talking about LGBTQ+ people. And they didn't know what some identites were, and they thought about it for a while, the idea completely foreign to them. Yet they started to laugh. They started to treat it as a joke. They started to treat pride as a joke. Pride, to them, simply means a dramatic fanfare of rainbows and glitter and ‘men in makeup’.
For some historical context, Pride Month has its roots from the 1969 Stonewall Uprising in Manhattan, NYC. Now, it becomes a month to recognize the impact the LGBTQIA+ community has made locally, historically, and internationally, and peacefully protest issues facing the community.
And I could end the article here. We need pride month to recognize what our community has been through. That’s basically it, isn’t it? That we just want to show off our colors and our pretty outfits, and complain about how we’re ‘discriminated’ against.
This is why we need pride month. Being limited to a certain stereotype, or not even being known at all, and undermining our struggles, ends with people hurt, or even worse, dead. Those who are straight don’t need to fight for their rights, or defend who they love, or look around to make sure holding hands is safe enough to do. Apparently, love is a privilege that some do not deserve. We’re illegal in 70+ countries, able to be put to death in 12. The human act of love acts as a death sentence to so many around the world. So many are scared, alone, unseen.
Pride Month is a way to be seen. A way to be noticed. A light that shines on a hope. A way to educate and celebrate. A short pause from the horrors of what man can do to each other. And even in movies, in shows, in real life, the LGBTQIA+ are underrepresented and misrepresented. I am forced to replace myself with someone who doesn’t exist in order to see who I am on the silver screen.
So for ONE MONTH out of twelve, I can see myself on a screen. I get to take pride in my identity, along with so many others. We all make up a family that some can’t have. Some aren’t accepted, or loved for who they are. But during pride month, they finally can be.
Organizations for LGTBQIA+ individuals and allies (donate, help, volunteering): The Trevor Project
True Colors United
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