Member-only story
This Year for Pride, I Have THIS To Say to the World!
My Quiet Kind of Pride Was Born in Small Town Australia
When Pride doesn’t feel like a party: This one’s for those still standing at the edge of the room.
Pride Didn’t Find Me in a Parade
I didn’t discover I was gay at a parade. There were no glitter bombs. No rainbow confetti. No group hug of chosen family pulling me into a sea of celebration.
What I had was silence. A quiet, aching kind. The sort that grows in small towns where queerness isn’t something you are. It’s something you survive. I grew up in a small town in Far North Queensland, Australia. Where masculinity had rules.
Inside the Community, Still on the Outside
Coming out didn’t feel like freedom. It felt like stepping into a different kind of performance. One where I still didn’t quite fit. Because even inside the queer community, I’ve often felt like I’m on the outside looking in. Too soft. Not fit enough. Not extroverted enough. Not seen. There’s this unspoken image of what Pride is supposed to look like. Confident. Loud. Sculpted. Celebrated. And when you don’t match that image, you start to wonder if you’re…
