How are you celebrating Pride Month?

brandonb
Révolutionnaire Team Révolutionnaire Team
Révolutionnaire Team

For me, Pride Month 🏳️‍🌈  has always been more about celebrating life and recognizing all those who came before me within the community. As someone who is genderqueer and gay, it's always been important to understand that all of us don't have to be on all the time in regard to organizing and activism, especially because that's what we work towards all year. In my celebration its about smelling the flowers, giving flowers to my friends and peers who are overlooked in the community, and also giving thanks to my queer ancestors and predecessors!

 

What are everyone else's thoughts? How are you celebrating Pride Month, and what is important to you during this time?

7 REPLIES 7

Justice
Co-Founder
Co-Founder

Thank you for the question, Brandon! I've been thinking about this a lot and how I as an ally can learn more and support the community during Pride Month and every month. I've been doing a lot of reading about Black and Latinx leaders of the LGBTQ+ movement such as Marsha P. Johnson, Audre Lorde and Andrea Jenkins. These leaders have been crusaders for civil rights for decades and are inspirational, revolutionary forces. Here is an incredible interview with Audre Lorde entitled "Your Silence Will Not Protect You." 

 

Also proud to support Black Women in Motiona Toronto-based, youth-led organization that empowers and supports the advancement of black women, gender-non-conforming and non-binary survivors of gender-based violence.

Anonymous
Not applicable

Happy Pride!!! What I love about being queer is having chosen family. I feel so lucky to have stayed connected with my queer and trans friends this past year despite moving around a couple times, especially after how difficult this past year has been on my personal mental heath. The pandemic has also been a huge toll on the mental health of the entire LGBTQIA+ community, on top of the increase of violence and policy against trans people and trans rights. Something I do all year round including the month of June, and suggest other people do as well if they can, is give funds directly to members of our community who are struggling right now. It's even easier to find threads on social media during Pride months of venmo accounts, paypals, and GoFundMe's to immediately help people afford surgeries, binders, health costs, rent, food, etc. I am excited to hopefully get to do some sort of in-person celebrating of life and smelling the flowers in person once my partner and I move to Boston and are with friends, although it won't be Pride month anymore!  🌈

blaizeexeter
Junior Editor Junior Editor
Junior Editor

honestly, the topic of pride month in my family has always been a bit awk but this year i'm really embracing who i am (even tho i'm not sure who that is yet lol). oh and i'm also continuing to support all of my favourite queer creators on social media and binging queer eye on netflix bc i'm OBSESSED! 

john24
Contributor III

What are your thoughts on Rainbow Washing? (When brands change their logos and assets to rainbow for pride month) Is it a form of performative allyship or is it something that is really meaningful? 

brandonb
Révolutionnaire Team Révolutionnaire Team
Révolutionnaire Team

I think it depends on the behaviors of the corporation in question. If we have an organization that uses the rainbow version of their logo but they have no queer employees, no equitable healthcare benefits for queer individuals, their employees feel excluded from workplace culture or doesn't have products/services that are LGBTQ+ friendly, doesn't donate to LGBTQ+ orgs, etc. then it's definitely performative. However, to a certain extent, there could be an argument that any large corporation with rainbow paraphernalia could be seen as performative due to the fact that many, if not all, large corporations exploit their workers and their labor, which inherently includes their queer employees. So, it's very dependent on what paradigm on performativity you may have.

Thank you for your response, it's very helpful to hear different views on this.

KamilleJ
Révolutionnaire Team Révolutionnaire Team
Révolutionnaire Team

@john24 That's really interesting, I never thought about the rainbow logos as being a form of performative allyship, I always thought it was a way of celebrating just like putting flags up in a store or local business. Thanks for that explanation @brandonb