Since we are all unique individuals, Pride can mean something different to each of us. To continue celebrating Pride Month, we asked our team to share a few words describing what Pride means to them. Buckle up for these heartfelt responses.
For me, Pride is a reminder that there is no capacity, limitation, or condition to love.
For me, Pride is a reminder that there is no capacity, limitation, or condition to love. I don’t boil it down to a gender or predisposition mindset of who I can and can’t love. Pride to me means loving unconditionally. It is simply another addition to me. It is also and has been a symbol of hope and faith, not just to me, but to so many others around the world. Not everyone in this world is as fortunate or even lucky enough to openly and freely love anyone they want to. It’s a testament to all the allies and way-makers before me that fought for my very right to be so open and free.
Pride is the LGBTQ+ community saying ‘This is who we are, and we’re proud of it.”
Pride to me means being fully and entirely myself without feeling the need to turn parts of myself ‘off’ depending on where I am or who I’m around. Pride is the LGBTQ+ community saying ‘This is who we are, and we’re proud of it.”
Pride means the ability to be free to love who you want to love without judgment.
The meaning of Pride means we all have the ability to be free to love who we want to love without any judgment. That alone is powerful.
Pride for me means being able to show all of myself to the world around me, the good and the bad, the perfect and the broken parts, and finding beauty in the uniqueness.
All my life I have been different, and growing up and coming out as gay was exceptionally hard for me. I was bullied, made fun of, humiliated, and at one point, assaulted – all under the guise of being “gay.” Throughout that period of my life, I remember wishing so hard that I could be like everyone else. That I could fit in and be “normal.” Needless to say, being different resulted in exclusion more often than not. However, in that darkness of exclusion, I found myself, and for that I am grateful. There was a point where I didn’t hurt anymore, and my tears turned into strength. The strength gave me an overwhelming empathy for those who were ostracized for being different like I had been and for the world around me. Once that empathy continued to develop, and I continued to grow and become a man, I began to find such incredible beauty in all of our differences.
Pride for me means being able to show all of myself to the world around me, the good and the bad, the perfect and the broken parts, and finding beauty in the uniqueness. Nothing makes me more proud than being able to say that what I once hated about myself is now what makes me able to take the most pride in. I stand with everyone who has been through the same darkness and who stands strong on the other side as a result of being authentically who they are. What a blessing it has been for me to be gay and to find pride, strength, and beauty because of it. If that is not a reason to hold a flag high, I don’t know what is!
