Happy Pride Month!

I regret not making a post about this at the beginning of the month, so posting it at the end of the month seemed like the appropriate thing to do.

June is the month where queer people from all walks of life celebrate what makes us who we are, who we want to be, and who we love. Pride month is a time to celebrate, and although we should be proud all year round, having a whole month dedicated to queer pride is pretty cool.

Never forget why pride exists; pride is the opposite of shame, and shame is what Republicans and the right wing wants us to feel. They want us to hate ourselves and hate each other just like they hate us, but we shine a light of pride in defiance.

It's important to remember what brought us here. Not rainbow logos and corporate sponsorships, but riot. Queer people can live out lives today because we decided we were done being oppressed, done staying hidden. Fascists are trying to turn things back, but we have the power to stop it. Pride is more important now than ever, and hiding that pride will only make them think they've won.

This weekend I attended the Seattle Pridefest and set up tables there to hand out pamphlets on Beyond the Plus. It went well! We started with thirty pamphlets and ended up with five, so twenty-five people will now know what Beyond the Plus is and will be able to tell their friends. One even said that they'd print copies at their workplace.

We also took some breaks to explore the pridefest, and every year it's just amazing to see the diversity and show of pride. People of every race, gender, and age coming together to wave flags of pride, wear slutty clothes, and sometimes even not wear clothes! There were lots of topless people and even some completely naked. Not to mention people wearing harnesses and pup masks and other fetish gear. The kink at pride discourse has been going on so long, but it's ridiculous because it's already happening while kids are there and nobody bats an eye. People just have hang-ups online.

But pride can feel unwelcoming to a certain crowd of people. Those that feel if they were their true selves that they wouldn't be allowed. The MAPs, zoos, consang, transage, etc. Heck, I didn't even see any otherkin or therian pride, and that's pretty normal! Though there were a ton of people with animal accessories and lots of furries. It's easy to see how a relatively normal band of queer people could make the outsiders feel unwelcome, even if there's a large display of kink and fringe queer stuff. 

Hopefully someday everyone feels welcome at pride. We start with a crawl, but eventually we will walk so everyone can march.