June is that time of the year in which everything turns rainbow. Big corporations update their logos with the colorful flag we are all familiar with. Their products display different images and phrases to represent the members of the LGBTQ+ community. However, Pride Month is much more than buying queer-themed products and changing your brand’s colors for four weeks. It is about resilience, equality, and human rights — all reasons why Pride Month is important for the younger generations.
A little bit of history
Pride Month is a well-known, global celebration. People turn to the streets to celebrate in endless parades that happen multiple times throughout the month. Individuals turn to social media to show their pride through photos, videos, and heartfelt posts. The media writes about different queer icons and events. They are trying their best to educate on LGBTQ+ history, sharing its meaning and origin for the world to understand why this community keeps fighting so hard to be seen, accepted, and respected.
As Pride Month 2021 started, several magazines began sharing the story behind the colorful parade. People published an article on the first day of June about “Everything You Need to Know About Pride Month,” sharing the history, its symbols, and the names of significant figures involved. This kind of article helps non-members of the community understand that Pride goes beyond sparkles, glitter, lights, drag queens, and parades. It is about fighting for equality, showing there is a place for this community in society, and honoring the Stonewall Riots of 1969.
Andrea Wurzburger put it best: “Throughout the month of June, nationwide, there have traditionally been parades, protests, drag performances, live theater, and memorials and celebrations of life for members of the community who lost their lives to HIV/AIDS. It is part political activism, part celebration of all the LGBTQ community has achieved over the years.”
A lot of importance
Growing up, trying to figure out your sexuality is a wild journey of self-discovery, love, and acceptance. While we are doing it, many of us spend hours fantasizing about what our first Pride parade will look like, who we will go with, and what kind of things we will see there. It is the event we all want to attend and cross off our bucket list. However, as we grow older, we realize how important it is to celebrate during June to honor the lives that were lost for our rights to be validated.
Pride Month is important for the younger generations to understand everything that happened before them and how far we have come. The LGBTQ+ community has been fighting for many decades, and although things are better now, there is still a path unwalked. The older generations did so much for us to stand proud of who we are, and the best we can do to repay them is honor the work they have done and continue to challenge those who want to silence us. The four weeks in June give us the opportunity to make our fighting more visible as more people join in on the conversation with their rainbows and their “ally” label.
But the truth is that Pride’s importance for the younger generations goes beyond the history it holds. It has a lot to do with the sense of belonging and acceptance they feel when seeing others like them being happy and celebrated. As someone who was once on that side, seeing individuals who proudly love others no matter their gender or who is judging them is the most comforting feeling a young queer person can have. Pride Month allows those still trying to come to terms with their sexuality to experience a positive side of the life everyone keeps telling them will be so hard.
All the pride
Pride Month has been celebrated in June of every year for the last 52 years, and there is no stopping the community who wants to take to the streets and the media to show their love and the happy results of their fights. It is a month of color, sparkles, glitters, music, drag queens, history, and remembrance. It is the LGBTQ+ month for those out of the closet, in the closet, or questioning their sexuality to feel how much they matter.