Before I begin, wanted to state up front: I’m typing this from my own brain. This post is from my own experience and my own mind, and written without deep research, so take it with that in mind. If you want a more objective definition of Pride and it’s relation to the month of June, I’d suggest starting on Wikipedia, and further than that, reading and listening to gay voices and scholars and historians. Before I get started with my own thoughts, below, here are a few of those voices, a place for you to start. It’s an incomplete list; feel free to let me know of others you know of. I know enough to know that I don’t know a lot of queer history. I’m happy to learn more.
- Harvey Milk
- Marsha P Johnson and Sylvia Rivera
- Barbara Gittings
- Phyll Opoku – Gyimah (Lady Phyll)
- Abigail Thorn
Today is June 1st, which marks the start of Pride Month. If you’re not aware what that means, the pride is specifically gay pride, a time for the community of people of all queer orientations to celebrate their community, to be out and remind everyone that they exist, they deserve the same kind of safety and visibility and rights that belong to all human beings.
I am absolutely in favor of everyone to have full access to the rights and privileges of society. I don’t care what your orientation is, you can live your life in whatever way you want without fear of being ostracized… or assaulted, hated, legislated against. So I am one thousand percent happy to see the month of June be a time for LGBTQ+ people to celebrate themselves and their peers.
This blog is a safe space for marginalized identities. Hate and bigotry are not welcome here. Just want to say that up front. Gay, lesbian, bisexual, pan, trans, asexual, aromantic, plus all others I’m not even aware of, basically any and all of you: I love you, I see you, the world is better with you in it, I stand with you.
A question that might come up, since I’m talking about pride month right now, is: do I consider myself part of the LGBTQ+ community?
That’s a good question. It’s one I don’t have a clear single answer to, though. I’ve been attracted to such a wide variety of people and representations, but my attraction is often mild and intellectual, which makes me think I might be asexually pansexual, if that makes sense. I don’t really know if that orientation has evolved over time. It’s possible that when I was younger and just learning about sexual attraction, I fell in to the default societal binary, and that I have spent the decades of my life unlearning that binary and becoming more in touch with who and what I am. Would that be evolution? I don’t know. I’m loathe to apply any specific strict rules to the undiscovered country of my own mind.
I’m just me. I don’t know that any specific label feels correct. That being the case, I’m probably less comfortable with the gender binary, which means I’m somewhere in the circle of the Venn diagram that includes LGBTQ+ folks. Take that as you will.
Honestly, I feel like this is one of the things that we connected on first. I’ve always been very inclusive and staunchly so. Whether I’ve gone to church or not. In fact, it’s one of the places I’ve taken a closer look at the church and separated myself from it even more. My own choice. I cannot accept anyone choosing church or “god” over their child. Period. I am so, so thankful that since then we’ve connected in other areas. I have since questioned my own sexuality. So, I love how just being open can be so freeing. Inclusivity is amazing!
Absolutely down with inclusivity. Society belongs to everyone. Tolerate everyone except the intolerant.