Pride as resistance: LGBTQ+ people struggle against right-wing war on their legal rights.
Across the country, LGBTQ+ people are struggling against a wave of legislation aimed at restricting their rights. They are also fighting back. (LA Times)
June has been designated as PRIDE Month. Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) Pride Month is currently celebrated each year in the month of June, to honor the 1969 Stonewall Uprising in Manhattan. The Stonewall Uprising was considered to be a turning point for the Gay Liberation Movement in the United States. (The Advocate)
It took me a whole hell of a long time to recognize, that I could be proud, along with the many other attributes in my life, that I had been proud of. And was having been born Gay. It also took courage from within to actually shout out loud that I am a Gay man and to share that part of my life with the world.
I was raised as a Jewish individual and learned early on in my life, that being a Jewish Individual, oftentimes, I would have to shout out loudly and rail against the misconceptions, lies, disinformation, Antisemitism, and hate from insecure people always in need of a scapegoat or a villain to help make themselves feel BIG and BETTER. It was easier for me to fight the Antisemitism battles back then because I had been a part of a community visible and viable. My entire professional career had me working in a variety of Jewish Communities as an advocate, a spokesperson, and a Communal Leader. I was Jewish and luckily had visible role models as my mentors.
Coming out Gay was not as easy for me, because too many of the heroes back in the day, had been silenced, shunned, and had to hide in shadows. But just as luckily I discovered the many LGBT individuals who denied the attempt of persecution and became LOUD, Fought Back, and Acted UP. So as I read the headlines from the LA TIMES, I herald the guts, the grit, and the empowerment of fighting back by the LGBTQ+ community and their allies, because we sadly have all learned that SILENCE DOES EQUAL DEATH!
