As Pride Month comes to an end. Here is what pride means to me. Regardless of whether you’re part of the community or not, this is why I think pride month is crucial for our societal developmental growth.
Safety and belonging in streets
I feel like cisgender people tend to regard the privileges’ they have in todays society. To me, cisgender people usually lack the acknowledgement that they wont ever face discrimination on the basis of their sexual orientation. For example, only 29 countries out of the 195 countries in the the world legalized same sex marriage. So Pride to me means safety and belonging, it means that every person regardless of their sexual orientation feels safe in public. feels comfortable, regardless of what country they live in, feels they have the same rights as every other straight person in the world, and just feel a sense of belonging from their loved ones and their community.
Safety from Hate Crimes
This kind of correlates with the title above, but pride to me means that every person has the right to live in our world safely without ever getting hate-crimed, for purely living. Pride month is a celebration of all the amazing hard efforts our ancestors put in to give us a better opportunities and a safer life. people should never die on the basis of who they love. Although the past can not be reversed (For all the lgbtq+ members who died) it can be improved. I believe it should be improved.
Safety At Schools
Pride means that every person regardless of who they are wont and get bullied at school for literally being a minority. Like come on its the 21st century we shouldn’t be bullying someone because their different than the group. As social media became more popular, it also became vital place for teens to bully their classmates. So pride to me means that they wont get bullied. It means that regardless of you’re opinion on the lgbtq+ community, you leave them alone. because at the end of the day words sting, and will stay with us for the rest of our lives. Like for example, a couple of years ago I wore a dress to picture day, (it was the first time I ever wore a dress to this new school) I was feeling really insecure that day, and while we waited for our pictures to be taken, I had a male friend tell me “you look pregnant,” that was followed by a bunch of giggles from my “friends.” I was mad, (obviously) so I confronted him but that was followed by “Its a joke.” so after that day, I went home and threw out the dress. And it has been over three years, and only this year have a worn a dress in public, and its been over two and a half years since I even owned a dress, (this year I bought a dress) this just shows that words hurt. That day what my friend told me, led me on an endless spiral of whether I was deemed worthy, and to me, and many girls being deemed worthy was being a size 00 I was a size 0 so I felt worthless. So pride to me means that regardless of what your sexual orientation is, or who you are, you won’t and should never get harassed on the the basis of who you are.
