What does Pride mean to you?

When I was first given this prompt, I had no idea where to start. What does Pride mean to me? I knew I valued it, I knew it brought so much to my life, but I had no idea how to put any of those feelings into words.

Hoping to find some guidance in other people’s perspectives, I turned to the internet and social media, compiling as many Pride discussions, events, organizations, and stories as possible. I spent hours trying to figure out how to capture everything that Pride represents, not just to me, but to my queer loved ones, and the LGBTQ+ community as a whole.

What actually happened was that I soon got overwhelmed by the sheer amount of information I kept finding and … froze.

I looked at my screen filled with tabs upon tabs of Pride content and just stared for a moment, taking in the sight. All of my anxiety and overwhelm faded away as this feeling of gratitude washed over me. I felt so lucky to be alive in a time when, with just a few clicks, I can see how impossibly large, widespread and diverse the LGBTQ+ community is.

Then suddenly, it dawned on me: To me, Pride means visibility. It means getting the chance to see just how many of us exist. I get to be reminded that queer people are everywhere. That we have always existed and no matter what, we will continue to exist.

Until this point, I hadn’t fully realized everything this visibility meant to me. Looking at footage of Pride parades, my heart feels full as I watch countless people celebrating their authentic queer selves, loudly and proudly. Every click through my research brings me to more queer people sharing their joy, their pain, their experiences, and their love. I am able to hear from LGBTQ+ elders where we came from and from LGBTQ+ youth where we are going.

My eyes well up with tears looking through all of this because it’s one thing to know that other queer people exist, it’s another thing entirely to have them right in front of you, even if it’s just on a computer screen. It not only means that these people are real, but that the community we share is strong and tangible. I let myself bask in the beauty and power of a constantly growing LGBTQ+ community.

I think back to the origins of this community and the people who made it possible. I think of the queer and trans ancestors who came before us, those who built the foundation of the LGBTQ+ community and fought to ensure us the rights and safeties we have today. I think of queer life without such a visible community, and what that would have been like.

Pride also means acknowledging and thanking our LGBTQ+ ancestors for everything they did to create the world we have now.

Without these ancestors, I wouldn’t be able to see hundreds of thousands of LGBTQ+ people and allies celebrating themselves and each other all across the world. Without them, I wouldn’t be able to live my life as an out queer, trans person. Without them, Pride wouldn’t exist.

Thanks to those who came before us, every June the LGBTQ+ community gets to see how large and widespread we are, how powerful we are when we come together, and how much love we have to share. We get the chance to, as a community, reflect on our past and work together to keep building a better future. We get to exist authentically and be loved for it.

Pride means visibility, it means thanking the ancestors who made this visibility possible, and it means using this visibility to keep our ever-growing community safe and thriving. Pride means connecting, sharing, and building a better future with each other. Pride means remembering to love one another, loudly and proudly, every day of the year.