Immediately when I think about Pride, I think of colour, flags, drag shows, friends, music, dancing and I guess just a big old party celebrating queerness in all its glory. I think it’s fair to say that this idea of an outward expression of pride, a sense of openness and freedom, is what most of the LGBTQIA+ community and its allies have come to associate with the term. I feel it goes without saying that Pride is a super important part of our community for many reasons, but I think there’s more to it than the commercialised rainbows that meet the eye.
Through writing this article, I have been compelled to think deeply about why Pride is inherently important, not only in the wider queer community, but to me personally. How does Pride hold meaning for me as a queer person and how does it manifest itself in my day-to-day life?
I know that I have great respect for who I am, I know that I like my queer identity and I accept myself in my entirety.
If I’m being honest, I’m not sure I’ve ever paid much thought to the Pride I have in my everyday life, or if it’s even there at all. I know that I have great respect for who I am, I know that I like my queer identity and I accept myself in my entirety. Is that Pride? I guess it is.
I suppose Pride seems rather natural when you look at it like that and yet it has been, and still is, such a complex journey for myself and many of my queer siblings to feel truly proud of ourselves. Even though I can safely say that I’m at peace with my identity right now in my life, it’s never long before you’re sent a curveball. Just in situations you wouldn’t expect, like when you’re at work and someone asks “have you got a boyfriend?”- I guess people’s assumptions always rattle me ever so slightly.
Again, it’s not that this question fills me with shame, it just fills me with more questions that I don’t really know the answers to. Would this be a good time to bring up my sexuality? What if they’re homophobic? What if I tell them and they think of me differently? I’ll probably laugh and reply with something along the lines of “men are trash”, we move on and that’s that. But I’m still unavoidably reminded of my otherness in this heterosexual world.
We deserve to feel pride for ourselves every single day, not just during the months when society says it’s okay.
I think that’s the crux of it all really, that we live in a very straight world which means most of our identities and experiences as queer people are not reflected in the world around us. We deserve to feel pride for ourselves every single day, not just during the months when society says it’s okay.
So hell yeah, Pride is definitely important to me. Pride is important to me because in loving myself I am able to give love to all the people around me. In the wise words of Lady Gaga, “rejoice and love yourself today, ‘cause baby you were born this way.”
