June is Pride month. A year ago, we were banding together to support those lost in the attack on Orlando's Pulse. We were celebrating the announcement that it was legal in all 50 states to marry if you were a same sex couple.
This year, there were no proclamations by the new president about Pride month. There was no acknowledgement of Pride at all. I understand that since the election, there are a lot of people who are still shell shocked by the result. And, that the fear people are feeling has resulted in a distrust of anyone who disagrees with you.
This year's pride should be about coming together. And, unfortunately, what I'm seeing is people on both sides giving in to their fears and taking it out on others. This isn't who we are. And, it accomplishes nothing, except for scattering an already broken group into smaller and angrier pieces.
Being angry has always been a part of what Pride stands for. The anger has led us to where we are now in terms of LGBTQ Rights. But, we need to focus that anger in the right direction.
Taking your anger out on others for an opposing view is small minded, and what we should actually be fighting against. Because, with all the things that are tearing us apart from the outside, do we really need to be doing it to ourselves as well?
There are ways to fight the government, but attacking each other, is not the way.
When I was at this year's pride, I became super emotional, and almost broke down in tears. This has never happened to me before at any of the pride events I've been to. I still couldn't tell you what it was that set me off. Maybe it was the sangria that I had before the parade? Maybe it was the fact that it dawned on me that I've been single for a year. Maybe it was the number of people who were there, both in the parade, and viewing it. Or, maybe it was the realization that by documenting Pride in pitcures of the parade, I was doing something that would have a teensy weensy little legacy in the grand scheme of things. Whatever it was, it inspired me.
I don't want to be Cleve Jones, and be an activist for the rest of my life. But, I also don't want to stand by and watch as we self destruct, and others take away the very things that we'd been fighting for since the beginning. I need to find the way to be more of an activist. Find out what needs to be done, and how I can help.
And, instead of polarizing all of our friends to either be with us or against us, we should all be doing the same. Come together. Use your weirdness, creativity, or whatever it is that you have inside you to keep the fight going. But, use your common sense, and fight for the side of all, and not just the side that you think is "right". Because, truthfully, when we stop fighting together, for what's important for all of us, we might as well give up fighting for anything. There's safety in numbers. Nobody said that those numbers had to agree on everything...
So, while you may be scared daily about what's coming down the line, or you may just say, what happens happens, just be the best you that you can be. Be out. Be proud of who you are. And know, that just these small acts make a difference in some way, whether you know it or not.
Happy Pride month!
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