Why Pride?
Roc Pride Festival is tomorrow! I figured I would briefly mention why I care about Pride stuff. I spent several years not wanting being queer to be a major part of my identity (“Cishet people do not need to ‘come out’ or remind people who they are, so why should I?”), and in many ways, that is still my stance, but even from there, I have started being more “aggressively” or “overtly” queer—having a rainbow flag up, wearing more Pride flag colors, etc. To me, that accomplishes a few important things: 1) it tells other queer people they are not alone, 2) it tells other queer people they can safely be their queer selves around me, and 3) it prevents bigots who want to ignore/erase the existence of queer people from doing so. Pride is that sentiment on steroids. It shows queer people just how many other queer people live in their town (and beyond), it gives them a much larger space in which to safely be their queer selves, and it sends a massive message to everyone in power who wants to erase us that we do and will continue to exist and persist.
Cross-posted to Facebook and Twitter.