By John Gallone |
It’s been wonderful to have an entire month to celebrate any group or historic event.
June being gay pride month gives all supporters of LGBT folks an opportunity to engage with this welcoming and diverse community.
Parades, festivals, block parties welcome families and friends alike, attracting a wide variety of supporters, from the simply curious to experienced party goers alike. Subsequently pride month is a citywide fete in many places around the United States and the world and the month of June has been an excellent opportunity to support our LGBT friends and attend events that are great fun for everyone.
TIP: Want to attract more straight support to an already diverse demographic? Make it LGBT- BLT and you’ve built a better mousetrap! Everybody loves bacon.
While a month of events is perfect for raising awareness, it’s important to remember that it takes more than advocacy. We know nothing gets done in United States without having a popular movement and mass support and communities work best as they grow more inclusive; a reminder that the pride flag has many colors for a reason.
The rainbow flag, a true symbol of diversity, is the key to this welcoming experience. Most of us at this point in time have many gay friends, relatives, co-workers. The sight of same gender couples showing public affection or interacting with their own families is a common sight for most of us. It’s easy as straight allies to forget at times just how under siege our friends actual are.
As California Governor Gavin Newsome points out:
“There is a full-throated purge effort going on here by the far-right that we have not seen for decades. They are on a boycott binge and cancel crusade, trying to eliminate the existence of minority communities. Burning Flags. Banning Books. We have seen this before. And it’s happening everywhere, all across the country. Woke has become just another dog whistle. We must continue to call out hate when we see it, as they keep trying to normalize it. If we go silent, this will only get worse. We cannot become numb to this.”
Pride month is a great time to celebrate but also a perfect opportunity to redouble efforts to become aware and work against; repression of LGBT rights and LGBT public activism, the many legislative and judicial objections to same-sex couples’ recognition, attempts to restrict sex education in schools. Many of these issues aren’t on the radar for most straight people but as allies for the LGBT community it’s important to educate ourselves and others.
During Pride Month and beyond roast those weenies, wave that flag, dance like everyone’s watching, toast the work that’s already been done but be prepared to keep the battle going for another year.
And remember, it’s ok to be straight just never narrow.
