Welcome to Pride Month!
June. It came fast didn’t it? For a lot of people, June means hot weather, exams, and the last push towards the end of the year. For The Victoria Voice and many other people, June means a celebration of culture and history. On Canadian calendars, June is marked as Indigenous Peoples Month whereas internationally, June is known as Pride Month.
Pride Month carries a huge legacy, a hugely important history and means something different to everyone. Overall Pride is the celebration of LGBTQ2S+ identities and remembrance of how the community has gotten where it is today. When celebrating Pride, no matter how you identify, there’s a few things to keep in mind.
First is the history being celebrated and who made that celebration possible. June being the month of celebration is largely dedicated to the Stonewall Riots of 1969 that occurred in late June (article coming soon). The traditional parade associated with Pride is due to the anniversary march of said riot. When looking at Stonewall as the remarkable part of Pride that it is, a thing to note is the large number of Black protestors, trans women and drag performers. In the vast book that is LGBTQ2S+ history, this theme continues and a clear lesson to pull from it is that Pride is greatly due to the BIPOC leaders that have blazed trails walked on by the entire community.
Building from that, just about everyone on social media has heard of Marsha P. Johnson, a Black transgender woman who had a huge role in Stonewall and the queer fight in general. The fact of the matter is she is only one of many trans women, Black trans women specifically, who queer communities owe their community to. The sheer amount of hate crimes and murders of Black trans women in 2020 alone is disgusting and underrepresented. Until the T in LGBTQ2S+ is equally as celebrated, there’s miles more to go in the fight for liberation.
Another thing to keep in mind is the new phenomenon of rainbow-washing. Ever noticed how corporations magically have rainbow flags in their logos on June 1st that disappear July 1st? That right there is rainbow-washing. Essentially, a performative attempt to gain the trust of LGBTQ2S+ people with the ulterior motive of sales and lack of actual support. A lot of these companies will also never include queer people, couples or families in their advertisements and won’t actually do anything for LBGTQ2S+ people (namely donate to important charities or bring light to big issues) they’ll really only prove that they know what the rainbow flag is, and when June is. Pride isn’t just about rainbows, but it also isn’t just about what’s wrong in the LGBTQ2S+ community. Something just as important calling out issues like rainbow-washing is supporting queer-owned small business. With a little bit of research or a presence on social media, they’re not as hard to find as you would expect. If that’s not available to you, even so much as finding out about and listening to LGBTQ2S+ musical artists.
Last idea to consider is the vast majority of people who don’t have the same experience as those in Canada. Oftentimes, people ask why there’s no straight pride (which we have an open letter about) and part of it has to do with the large number of countries where it’s illegal to marry the same sex or even associate with homosexuality in general. Chances are, if you haven’t experienced homophobia, someone probably has in your place.
At the end of the day, there’s a lot of work to be done but just as much celebration. Pride month is a chance to look back, reflect, take a breath and think about where you are, what’s gotten you there and what your place in the community means to you. After that we look forward, and prepare for the fight left to come.
