#Pride and protest



So here we are in June, and the start of the strangest #Pride month I’ve known: no mass celebrations, no marches, no chance to get together with community and friends to celebrate and support, protest and defend - and hardly a word from all the normal Corporate sponsors and ‘allies’ who would be rushing to show their ‘support’ for the #LGBT+ community with their #RainbowFlags (which many have now simply whitewashed and appropriated as the #NHSRainbow instead, without a word).

But this year gives us all a chance to remember what #Pride is actually FOR - it’s not simply an excuse to party, or to rainbow-wash and make money: #Pride started as a protest - a RIOT: led by black drag queens and disadvantaged Queens and Leathermen who had finally had ENOUGH of brutality and intolerance from the police and the state, who refused to lie down quietly and rose up to DEMAND their visibility, their rights, and their HUMANITY. 

2020 is the International Year of LGBT Rights - in a world where being gay is STILL illegal in over 70 countries, and punishable by death in 13. And we still have terrible trouble *within* our own community with inherent racism, ableism, and the ‘new morality’ that wants to silence anything other than a skewed heteronormative ideal. That HAS to change. But it won’t change unless we MAKE IT: NONE of us are truly free until ALL of us are free to be who WE chose to be, without prejudice or fear.

Make the change. Stand with those who fight for their Rights. Have PRIDE in who we are and how far we have come. And be the allies to everyone else who is oppressed or resisting oppression. Together, we can transform the world, because #ItGetsBetter. 

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