it’s Pride Month🌈 and every year we see the same thing happen: people celebrate the community while deciding that certain parts of it are less important, less visible, or somehow "don't count enough" to be included. so here's a reminder that Pride is for all of us.
for the lesbians, gay people, bisexual people, pansexual people, asexual people, aromantic people, demisexual people, graysexual people, transgender people, nonbinary people, genderfluid people, agender people, intersex people, queer people, questioning people, and everyone else who falls somewhere under this vast and complicated umbrella—you belong here.
don't erase bisexual people when they're in different-gender relationships. don't erase pansexual people by pretending their identity is just a trend. don't erase asexual people because their experiences don't fit society's expectations around attraction. don't erase aromantic people because they don't center romance. don't erase nonbinary people because they make you rethink categories you've taken for granted. don't erase trans people by treating their existence like a debate instead of a reality. don't erase intersex people because their experiences challenge the neat little boxes people want human beings to fit into. and don't erase questioning people, because nobody needs to have every answer immediately to deserve support and community.
Pride began because people who were marginalized, criminalized, excluded, and silenced refused to disappear. it wasn't built on the idea that some identities were more deserving than others. it wasn't built so we could draw new lines and decide who gets to belong. it was built on solidarity.
so this month, celebrate loudly. support each other. learn about identities beyond your own. listen when people talk about experiences you've never had. challenge stereotypes. challenge gatekeeping. challenge the idea that queerness has to look a certain way to be real.
and most importantly, remember that inclusion isn't inclusion if people keep getting left out.
happy Pride Month to everyone under the rainbow—especially those who are so often told they're too much, not enough, too complicated, too invisible, or too different to belong.
you belong anyway. 🌈
