Pride Is Under Threat. What Does That Mean for You This Year?
Transphobes: No One Is Shoving Pride Month Down Your Throat
I’ve been an ally all my life, but this year is different.
I have been an ally all my life during each and every Pride month but this year is much much different. This Pride month has an extra special meaning for me because it’s my first Pride month as a socially out, loud and proud transgender woman. What better way to kick this month off than by knocking the proverbial old transphobes off their high horse?
I recently commented on a social media post about a local news organization article with a title something like, “Pride Month is Coming…here are a list of events!” Of course, inevitably, the transphobes come out in full force with someone parroting the below:
It’s not those that chose to live their lives within this movement I’m against. It’s the push of it down everyone’s throats that I’m against. Do whatever makes you happy, just don’t try and force people to celebrate you because of it…but you can’t march around wearing weird costumes and screaming into bullhorns and waving stupid flags and then say ‘it’s none of your business’.
You know what I love about that comment? It’s so passive-aggressive trying to be PC yet essentially still bashing the LGBTQ+ community. I have some news for you, transphobe…NO ONE IS FORCING ANYTHING DOWN YOUR THROAT.
I responded to the transphobe by saying the following:
Valentine’s Day / Halloween / Christmas come around each year and all the retailers/social media/everything changes for those months and no one goes ‘STOP FORCING IT DOWN MY THROAT!!!’ Inevitably Pride month rolls around and rainbow flags and events pop up and someone always shouts ‘DON’T FORCE IT DOWN MY THROAT!’ Get over yourself, people. If you don’t want to participate or celebrate it, just ignore it like a normal person.
As to the latter part of the quote regarding marching in parades:
“Just don’t participate or avoid it all like LITERALLY any other parade / march / rally…how hard is that?”
I don’t know why that’s so hard to understand for a transphobe? Look, I am single, have been forever, and every February rolls around inundating me with Valentine’s Day commercials about love and chocolates and romantic dinners. Dating sites ramp up their efforts to bolster their monthly subscriptions by offering me 50% off on the chance to find love.
The worst, in my opinion, is all my friends on social media who are married or in relationships posting all their cute vacation pics or pics of whatever is clearly better than what I’m doing. (Not that being single is a bad thing!) Do I immediately throw a tantrum and start yelling at everyone to “Stop forcing it down my throat!?
Absolutely not, because I am an adult and I realize two inevitable truths.
First, if I don’t like something, I don’t have to shout it out to the world. Guess what? You don’t have to either.
Second and more important, if someone is doing something you don’t particularly care for, you don’t have to participate in it. Where is the “forcing” in any of these scenarios?
You know what I am getting sick and tired of?
All the anti-trans legislation being proposed (and often passed) in the US. I am sick and tired of the vitriol, frankly the lies, spouted by the Republican Party about trans folk and the LGBTQ community as a whole. I am sick and tired of having to defend myself for being me and living my life. I am sick and tired of being told how I should live my life. Talk about forcing it down someone’s throats!
I will not lie to you. I am worried about a future where people are told who they can love and what to believe. I am worried about a future where gender-affirming care is banned for not just youths but adults. I am worried about living in a futuristic The Handmaid’s Tale nightmare where women’s rights are stripped from them.
But all my worries are trumped (pun intended) by my eternal optimism, knowing that progress cannot be stopped. It can and will move forward no matter how much a certain group tries to stop it from happening.
Look how far we’ve come in the past 20 or so years. Pride month is now loud and proudly celebrated ever June whereas 20 years ago when I was a senior in college, I couldn’t tell you anything about the LGBTQ community. I wasn’t even aware of anything called Pride month.
That’s why Pride month is so important.
It brings so much awareness of what the LGBTQ community is and represents, as well as its positive impact on society. With the commercialization and frankly monetization of Pride month, plus the advent of social media, people now know at least a little about our community.
That’s due to Pride month being celebrated now more than ever. Without awareness, there can be no knowledge gained and without knowledge progress, is delayed and ignorance creeps in. If that happens, complacency can set in and fuel a fire of misinformation and lies — spread far and wide. All that progress we have fought for tooth and nail can be gone in an instant.
Representation matters now more than ever.
In the past, I would have asked for just more tolerance of the LGBTQ community, but that is being complacent. No longer can we take the stance of “Do what you want, and so long as it doesn’t affect me, I will tolerate it.” Not with all the legislation threatening our very existence. What we need now more than ever is awareness, support and allyship. The more voices we have, the louder and more powerful we can be as a unified driving-force towards progress and a better future for all of society… and I hate to break it to you transphobes, but progress cannot and will not be stopped.
All the Best!
— Amber
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This story is a response to the Prism & Pen writing prompt, Pride Is Under Threat. What Does That Mean for You This Year?
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