Why you don’t need to be gay for pride week to be important – Esme Peters
Every year, during the month of June, the LGBT community celebrates in a number of different ways. It is a movement that celebrates sexual diversity. For lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people it is a way of protesting about discrimination and violence. It promotes their dignity, equal rights, self-affirmation and is a way of increasing society’s awareness of the issues they face.
So while it is obviously a celebration for the LGBT community, I believe the message is much wider than that. It is representative of how far we as a global community have come in rights for all, whether that be women, ethnic and religious minorities or people with sexual and gender identities outside of what used to considered the ‘norm’. Furthermore it is a reminder that this progress, while often enshrined in law, is under threat.
Looking no further than Donald Trump’s Presidency (only 3 years) there has been numerous threats to the modern world and those who wish to uphold its values and freedoms. Most recently the Trump administration finalised one rule allowing medical workers to refuse to treat trans people based on religious objections, while drafting another piece of legislation that would allow homeless shelters to turn away transgender individuals (there are countless more examples although that is another article for another day). Also this month there has been the Alabama abortion ban, a disgusting restraint on women’s basic rights to physical automony by a group of middle aged white men (again I could say more but this was intended to be a positive article and I’m getting angry writing it).
Tolerance and respect of other humans beings is so important, something as future generations of the world we should seek to protect and promote. One of my favourite programmes is RuPaul’s drag race (final was last week, available on Netflix) which, to any who have not seen it, I would highly recommend. One of the things I love so much about this show is that despite being a competition the central message is love. Many episodes have included the drag queens sharing stories of real personal hardships in the dressing room, how their families didn’t accept them, stories of violence and of real emotional hardship. However they always come back to learning to love themselves and what they do, and their hope to open doors and change attitudes in younger generations. Now obviously drag queens are still controversial by nature and many people are not used to the concept, however that’s where tolerance comes in. Just because you don’t agree with something doesn’t mean it is wrong.
In a world of increasing hate and violence use Pride Month as an opportunity to reflect upon your impact on others and the importance of respect for everyone, no matter who they are. You will not always get it right, no one ever does, but it is important to try.
Post Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.