06/07/2026
๐๐๐ HAPPY PRIDE!! ๐๐๐
Shirley Chisholm: "If they don't give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair."
Pride does not celebrate being LGBTQ. Pride celebrates the refusal to be invisible despite efforts to make LGBTQ people invisible. Pride celebrates resiliency in the face of oppression. Pride celebrates freedom, authenticity, and community.
We have Pride because:
โข there are more than 500 anti-LGBTQ bills to oppose that are in front of legislators across the states.
โข employment and housing discrimination is still a reality for many LGBTQ people.
โข Q***r people are still beaten, kicked, burned, taunted, bullied, condemned, and killed.
โข our government is working overtime to erase LGBTQ people from web sites, documents, laws, schools, media, and more.
โข too many said nothing when presidential candidates spoke at a conference led by a โpastorโ who calls for the ex*****on of LGBTQ people.
โข we all lose when any of us is unable to live a full and authentic.
โข there are still young Q***r people so afraid of who they are and how they might be perceived that they decide to commit su***de.
We have Pride to tell the world in voices that are strong that hatred does not stop hatred, that division does not bring us together and make us strong. that violence will not prevent violence, that silence and complicity can lead to terror and death.
We have Pride because freedom is never freely given. We have it to be seen. We have it to say that we, too, are citizens. We have it to say that we refuse to be labeled as criminals and mentally ill.
Finally, we have Pride because "injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,โ and t โwhatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.โ So, during Pride, we are each asked to choose justice or injustice. Which do you choose?
Happy Pride.