An Introvert’s Guide to Pride
By Sassafras Lowrey
If Pride season feels overwhelming to you, you aren’t alone! Pride can be a busy time filled with crowds, loud music, and excitement. Although Pride can be a busy time, you don’t have to be an extroverted social butterfly in order to enjoy Pride Month. If, like me, you’re an introvert, it can also feel a little overwhelming looking at schedules of pride events and feeling like everything might have more people than you’re up for interacting with. Looking for a quieter Pride season? Here are some tips for introverts looking to enjoy pride without the crowds.
Celebrate Pride Online:
Not feeling up for going out, but looking for a little bit of social interaction? That’s ok! There’s no right or wrong way to celebrate Pride and you can always spend some time online hanging out with your favorite internet friends! Read and share your favorite blogs, share your favorite LGBTQ+ artist’s art, watch some videos, or just chat with friends. Being active online can help you to connect with LGBTQ+ people from around the world and can be a great quiet social outlet for introverts. Not only is the internet great for introverts, but it’s also ideal for LGBTQ+ people who can’t safely be out at this time, or who don’t have Pride events in their local area. You may even be able to attend some pride events that are streamed online!
Host A Pride Brunch/Lunch/Dinner
If you’re looking for a fun quiet Pride event consider hosting a Pride brunch, lunch, or dinner at your home, or a picnic in a park. Make fun digital or print invitations and Invite your LGBTQ+ friends to join you for a rainbow feast! If you want to serve rainbow foods you can make everything yourself, or you can ask guests to bring pride-themed snacks to share with everyone. An easy rainbow dish to serve is a fruit salad or fruit tray utilizing rainbow-colored fruits. Jell-O, pasta salads, and cakes can all be made into rainbows. You can also food coloring to color almost anything into a rainbow.
Create a DIY Pride photoshoot:
This is the perfect time of year to take and post on social media pictures that center queer joy! This June considers setting up a photobooth or photo shoot for yourself and your friends. For these pictures pick clothes, accessories, hairstyles, and/or makeup that feel affirming to your identities. Then, create different pride backgrounds and/or fun pride photo props such as rainbows, pride flags, cardboard accessories, signs with affirming or equality-themed messages, or pride symbols. You can even involve your pets in the photoshoot! If you have pets, consider getting or making some pride-themed outfits or bandannas for taking pride pictures.
Pride Movie Night:
Instead of heading out to a Pride, you can always have a quiet night at home on your own, or with a few close friends watching one of your favorite LGBTQ+ movies, or television shows. At your pride movie night, you can watch something you’ve seen before, or you can challenge yourself to try something new. Not sure what to watch? This June many streaming services including Disney+ and Netflix have Pride-themed highlighted suggestions for you to check out! Want a sweet treat? Consider a bowl of rainbow sherbet, or you can even make yourself and your friends some rainbow popcorn!
Read Queer Books:
Reading is a favorite hobby for a lot of introverts. This June, considers reading more books by LGBTQ+ authors. During June, many bookstores have Pride sections with different books by queer authors, or with LGBTQ+ themes highlighted. Many public libraries also have Pride displays in local branches; some libraries even have e-books highlighted on their website with increased access to being able to digitally check out these titles. Want to challenge yourself to read something new? Look at the books that won the 2023 Lambda Literary Awards in categories from gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender fiction, poetry, nonfiction, memoir and more! These awards annually celebrate the best of LGBTQ+ literature and are a great space to learn more about queer books, including books from small and independent community publishers.
Set your own schedule:
As you’re looking at a list of pride events in your local community, don’t be afraid to create your own schedule by carefully picking and choosing which events you are going to attend. You don’t have to go to everything, just pick events that sound the most interesting to you. Don’t forget to allow plenty of introverted decompression time before, after, and between Pride events so you don’t get overwhelmed. After you select the events you want to attend see if any of your close friends want to attend with you or go solo! If you get to an event and it’s louder or more crowded than anticipated don’t pressure yourself to stay the entire time. It’s also perfectly ok to go for part of an event and leave early and head home for quieter celebrations.
It’s ok to say “no”
Not in the mood to be social? You don’t have to go to anything you don’t want to. As an introvert, it’s ok to pass or say no to invitations to attend events that aren’t exciting to you or feel like they will be too overwhelming. Don’t let anyone pressure you to attend an event you don’t want to attend. Even if all your friends plan to go to big pride events in your local area, it’s ok to put your comfort first and decide to go to quieter events or stay home and celebrate Pride on your own.
About the Author:
Sassafras Lowrey’s novels and nonfiction books have been honored by organizations ranging from the American Library Association to the Lambda Literary Foundation and the Dog Writers Association of America. Sassafras’ work has appeared in The New York Times, Wired, and numerous other newspapers and magazines. Sassafras has taught queer writing courses and workshops at LitReactor, the NYC Center For Fiction and at colleges, conferences, and LGBTQ youth centers across the country. You can find more of Sassafaras’ written works, including an edited collection exploring LGBTQ+ youth homelessness entitled Kicked Out, at www.SassafrasLowrey.com.
