Pride Isn’t Just For June
Cassandra Nguyen | June 27, 2022
So, it’s almost the end of June. Soon enough, the rainbow patterns are going to be taken off of the backs of app icons, the somewhat exploitative and mostly tacky Pride clothing collections retail stores put out once every year are leaving the shelves, and it’ll be another year until it all happens again. However, just because the general public and massive media or retail conglomerates stop celebrating and supporting the LGBTQIA+ community outside of June doesn’t mean there aren’t ways for you to do so every month of the year.
• Donate to LGBTQ+ charities/organizations. Here are some for you to consider:
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The Trevor Project - A nonprofit suicide prevention organization for the LGBTQ+ community
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GLAAD - Protest against defamataory news coverage against gay and lesbian people
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Transgender Law Center - The largest American transgender-led civil rights organization
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Human Rights Campaign - United States’ largest LGBTQ+ advocacy group
• Encourage those around you to vote against homophobic, transphobic, and queerphobic laws. While you may not be able to legally vote, you can educate the adults in your life about laws that attack the rights of LGBTQ+ people. Examples of this are laws like the “Don’t Say Gay” bill in Florida (banning discussions of sexual orientation or gender identity in schools), legalizations of conversion therapy (dangerous and discredited practices that seek to change the identity of LGBTQ+ people), and the banning of same-sex couples’ marriages.
• Learn about the history of Pride. People often forget that some of the earliest and greatest leaders of the Pride movement were trans women of color. Marsha “Pay It No Mind” Johnson, a Black transgender woman, relentlessly advocated for trans and homeless people, sex workers, and people with HIV/AIDS in New York City for nearly 25 years. Sylvia Rivera, a latina trans woman who identified as a drag queen, helped lead the Stonewall Riots when she was 17. Rivera believed that the movement should not just be for white, middle-class people, and advocated for the movement to me more inclusive of people of color, transgender people, homeless people, and incarcerated people. Together, Martha Johnson and Sylvia Rivera created STAR (Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries), the first LGBTQ+ youth shelter in North America and the first organization in the US to be led by trans women of color.
• Support queer creators. Seek out media from queer creators. For example, artwork (the easiest way to support queer visual artists is to engage with their social media or buy from their online shops), queer musicians, movies or films by queer filmmakers/directors.
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