A Month of Pride

As a budding journalist in my retirement years, I’ve seen my share of Facebook posts objecting to June being Pride Month.

”Give our veterans a month, first!”

”What are they proud of?”

”Pride is every day!”

These are simply just a few of the comments that I see.

The most usual response, and I’ve happily used it, too, is, “Vicious comments and attitudes towards our Community is the very reason why we have a Pride celebration in the first place,” or some rendition, thereof.

And let’s not forget the occasional reminder about the very first “Pride,” a reminder that I do NOT use, because I believe that we, as a community, must lead, not follow the poor examples of Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, Minute Men, MAGA, and yes, BLM:

”Stonewall was a riot…”

To suggest that such inappropriate behavior is an option, maybe suggesting a more immediate one, is NOT an option, nor is it leadership.

There are also those who say that, “Pride is every day!”

As a gay man for 53.5 years, I can tell you that’s a great way to live one’s life, and believe me when I tell you that I do have Pride every day (and not the sinful kind).

However, when it comes to remembering sacrifices of assassinated community leaders, like Harvey Milk, only to turn and see this Fascist government remove honors bestowed upon him, like a naval vessel in his name, for example; we need a set date, such as the month of June, to not only fight homophobia, but also complacency.

Because of the numerous events, as is evident of the inclusiveness of the LGBT Community, one single day of celebration doesn’t suffice.

We have one day for Memorial Day because we all do the same thing while hopefully also remembering our veterans - BBQ vacations / picnics of some sort. We have one day for the 4th of July, for the same reason.

There’s two for the military. There will be more by the end of this opinion.

Valentine’s Day.

Mother’s Day.

Father’s Day.

Even holy days like Easter & Christmas, all need one day due to the singularity of the celebrations.

Pride is more than a celebration of being gay. In fact, one’s sexuality really has nothing to do with it. It’s the perseverance from the discrimination, like the hatred we see stoked by this administration, that has caused various demographics from one larger community to come together, stay strong, and fight fascism, discrimination, and various phobias.

The Pride that this causes is not from spending all night in a bar. It’s not from marching down the street in rainbow underwear.

It’s for the opportunity to wake up and go to work, like everyone else, and not have to worry about whether or not that job will still be there.

The Pride we feel is from knowing that the fights we fought, win or lose, helped us to maintain healthcare that others take for granted. It helps us to feel secure when other people are complacent. It helps us to have families of our own, though maybe not “traditional“, without fear of that family being disintegrated, by this fascist regime.

It’s because that our struggles, victories and losses, allow us to feel somewhat “normal” when others sit and complain about things they could have changed, but didn’t.

Groceries.

The price of gas.

Interest rates.

The overall economy.

The starting of wars that this administration promised wouldn’t happen.

We worry about those things, too.

Now I also worry about being pulled over, or hearing a knock at my door, or someone in my house in the middle of the night, because, while The Bill of Rights is now gone for most of us, it’s been gone for many of us.

I’ve been investigated three times during my Secret Service career. I was able to prove that the purpose of each of the three investigations was simply because of the fact that I’m gay. None of those investigations were legal. Two of them came during Trump 1.0 and were initiated by headquarters. Why? Because Donald Trump made those bosses feel safe in breaking the law, violating my rights and protections as a federal employee, and in turn, employee by employee, weakening a nation.

My Pride is about the fact that for more than 21 years, I did my part. That I conquered the everyday struggles of every other American adult, plus a few extras, continued my job of protecting and defending the US Constitution, from all enemies, foreign and DOMESTIC, so that some straight people could keep the Right to bitch about 30 days of rainbow colors.

Something, something, “Snowflakes…”

And for those who apparently don’t know: May, a month with one more day than June, is “Military Appreciation Month.” Yet MAGAs bitch about “not having a month.” Not knowing that shows how little of a shit they really give about our nation’s military….

Hope this helps! Happy Pride to those who celebrate. And may those who hate, have a most-uncomfortable June and not have to face the threats of violence that we face.