This has been something I’ve been stewing over for two days now since the Orlando shooting happened. I’ve felt sad, afraid, numb, and ultimately now I feel angry. Besides close friends and family, Im not really vocal about my sexuality. Why? I always just told myself it was because I just considered being gay as a normal part of myself. Recently though I’ve become more honest with myself, and it’s really because of fear.
Fear of what people thought. Fear of acting “too gay”. Fear of provoking someone not accepting of who I was. Fear of being judged by my peers for my sexuality. Fear, for someone that considered themselves to be highly confident, it’s a hard thing to admit out loud about myself. As I gear up for Dublin Pride in a couple weeks, and as pride is celebrated around the world, I’m still asked, “Why do gay people need pride?” This is why we need pride.
Whether your see it or not, there is some level of risk in being LGBT. I can remember the last time I held hands in public with a man, one random person who passed us said, “Your disgusting”. How the hell do you say that to someone? This doesn’t come close to what some other people experience, but this kind of crap, this kind of bigotry and hate, is why we why need pride.
Even after coming out, this process to accept your isn’t over. You just don’t get over 24 years of society telling you you’re not normal. I’ve been lucky to have supportive family and friends, but sometimes I do still feel guilt for who I am. I know I shouldn’t feel this, but sometimes I do. Even writing this now I feel some level of fear from being this open. Fear that people might think of my differently, but regardless of how I feel now, it’s needs to be said:
-We need pride because people feel afraid to hold hands in public with the one they love
-We need pride because in some countries, we still can be executed for who we are
-We need pride because people still support/promote conversion therapies
-We need pride because we are attacked on the streets
-We need pride because we get kicked out of homes, and fired from our jobs. -We need pride because someone walked into our safe space, and killed over 50 of us with an assault rifle.
When we have Pride, it’s not to rub it in anyones faces. How is it that people can constantly post/rep their favourite sports team, wear their favourite brands, promote their company or their favourite musician. But when Pride occurs for one week out of the year, it’s now “obnoxious” and “unnecessary”. We are just celebrating love, acceptance, our differences, and at the same time acknowledging that there is so much more progress to be made. If you can’t accept that, then you’re one of the many reasons why we need Pride.
“It takes no compromise to give people their rights…it takes no money to respect the individual. It takes no political deal to give people freedom. It takes no survey to remove repression.” - Harvey Milk
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