Our favorite time of year is here; summer is in full swing, we're soaking up the sun, and best of all, it's Pride! You might be seeing ads for local Pride events like live music, game nights, or community celebrations honoring the queer community. Maybe you and your friends are gearing up for your local Pride parade ready to be out in the streets dancing together. 

While so much fun and joy is to be had during June, there is also sadness and grief associated with Pride due to its history and our current political climate. If you’re finding it hard to celebrate yourself and your community, when so much in the world is feeling overwhelming and terrifying you’re not alone. Pride can bring up a lot of mixed emotions for folks without support systems, resources, or for anyone who doesn’t feel comfortable being out. 

All of these feelings, the happiness and the sadness, are valid during this time of year. It can also feel confusing and harmful to see anti-LGBTQ legislation being pushed while simultaneously seeing companies and corporations push pride merchandise and commercials. We in the community have to hold space constantly for all these things at once, the love we have for ourselves and each other and the homophobia and bigotry that still exists around us.

This may be why it’s even more important to celebrate pride this year. Celebrating pride is an act of resistance to the current climate we face, and an act of love for the beauty and diversity found in our community. 

The history of Pride is incredibly important, it’s not just a parade. Pride is about LGBTQIA+ rights, equality, courage and community. While there is still a lot of work to do for our rights and queer representation, Pride can be a wonderful time to honor our queer history and celebrate our presence among community.  At the same time, it's important to recognize the complexities of how Pride exists today.

The Problem with Capitalist Pride

Over the years, we have seen the development and growth of Pride parades across the United States and many countries, which is so inspiring to see! However, as Pride has ebbed and flowed into mainstream culture, capitalism has of course wormed its way right alongside it. We have witnessed Pride become more commodified by companies and corporations in order to fit in as allies, something known as “rainbow washing” (the false or empty support of the queer community, using rainbows/rainbow colors in advertisements and merchandise to signal allyship while lacking real support for the community during the rest of the year). This often results in increasing their sales and their image as allies of the community. Sometimes this looks like taking down all pride-themed merch after June, silence for queer rights during important times of legislation, and sometimes it’s an outright contribution to organizations dedicated to harming the community. 

It can be easy to feel like celebrating Pride to the fullest means buying all the merch, showing up everywhere in style, or packing your calendar with events—sometimes to the point of social burnout (sighs in FOMO). But feeling the push to be super social to fit in or to hit every major event, constantly doing something, is also an insidious message of capitalism; the constant need to produce, buy, or be seen. Resisting this can equally be a radical act of love, self care, and rest and a way to not burn out during Pride month.

Reclaiming What Pride Means To You

Pride does not have to be about attending the local parade or coming out to anyone in your life. Pride really can be about anything you want to celebrate or acknowledge! Here are some things to consider in what Pride can mean to you:

• Is Pride about your identity and relationships with others? 
• Is it about celebrating your authentic self and if so, is that for a day, a month, or all year round? 
• Does it involve a style of expression or meaningful object you carry?
• Is Pride found in the art you consume, media you watch, or music you listen to?
• Pride can be about celebrating queer history and the brave folks who fought for our rights
• It can be about found family, love and connecting with the world around you!
• Is your pride about engaging in acts of joy and/or resistance? 

Pride can be all of these and more. Your pride can be personal, political, or private because there is no wrong way to be proud of who you are.

Maybe you’ve felt jaded by the ways Pride has felt over the last few years, especially during a time rife with anti-gay and anti-trans legislation. Maybe you still feel a weird pressure to buy something that looks queer because you value being open but unsure how necessary it is to stick a rainbow on everything. Maybe you still want to engage in Pride month but don’t want to give money to companies that don’t care about you. 

I know I have felt this way; wanting to enjoy all that Pride symbolizes, but not feeling like the parade, with its increase in corporate attendance, aligns with my values anymore. My Pride experiences in the beginning of my being out were awesome, rainbows galore, holding hands with my partner, getting to walk around soaking up so much love! But in the last few years, wearing the right merch or being at the parade has felt less important to me, than being with my queer friends, or even doing something just to honor myself.

What Can Pride Look Like Without Capitalism? 

Believe it or not there’s more to pride than money, merch, and faux liberalism. It’s important to remember what Pride actually means to us in the community. Forget the latest Target t-shirts or rainbow candles and regardless of the newest ads trying to claim they care about our rights, Pride is about community, love and courage. Pride was always about taking up space however that looks for you.

I know for me, my Pride celebrations have sometimes just been time spent with my partner or a few close friends, and getting to be our most authentic selves around each other. Sometimes I experiment with my style or support queer-owned businesses when I can. For me, Pride isn’t really about the parties or the parade, but about being around other queer people. When I am out in the world, surrounded by people who share the kind of love I do, who understand the beauty and expansiveness of gender and sexuality like me, this makes me feel the most me I can be.

Here are some ways you can celebrate Pride without capitalism, without spending money or doing something that doesn’t quite align with your values. And just maybe, some of these can be year-round activities; Pride is more than just one month.

• Spend Time With Community
  
  • Get together with your friends and loved ones and do something fun and inexpensive. Spend time at home for movie nights, board games, share stories about what Pride means to you. Talk about your queerness in meaningful conversation. Support each other, this is how we keep going.
  • You can find virtual events as well if that feels best for you! Some resources for this are Live Nation, Elevant, and Eventbrite. 
• Learn Queer History and Keep It Alive
  
  • Join or start a book club dedicated to queer heroes, and learn about how we got here and how to keep going. 
  • Go to the library or support local bookstores and share your findings with others. Organizations like The Trevor Project have a great resource on LGBTQIA+ history. Autostraddle is an awesome website dedicated to LGBTQIA+ topics and content!
• Volunteer at local LGBTQIA+ organizations
  
  • Spend time in your community, or find ways of volunteering that work for you whether that’s during Pride month or throughout the year. There are lots of ways to volunteer locally or globally, in person or online!
• Get outside
  
  • Explore your local hikes and trails, find places of peace and calm to help ground you when you need to get away from the noise of the world. Our bodies and identities are sacred, nature can be a great way to reconnect with yourself. Queer pleasure is resistance! 
• Spend Mindfully, Give Intentionally
  
  • If you do feel inclined to use your dollar to celebrate Pride, consider art/craft fairs to support local artists and small businesses. Or donate to organizations that are meaningful to you. Some great places to donate or volunteer with are The Trevor Project, GLAAD, GLSN, Human Rights Campaign, Advocates for Trans Equality, and the National LGBTQ Task Force, just to name a few!

There are so many ways to celebrate Pride, so many ways to show up as our most authentic selves without involving capitalism and the pressure to perform. You don’t need to buy the newest rainbow pin if you don’t want to, or wear the newest trend to fit in. You can leave the party early or not party at all! Being you in a world that doesn’t always value or see us, is the most radical act of Pride you can engage in! Whatever you do during June and the rest of the year, I hope you find pride in yourself, your community and everything that you are. 

Be proud, take up space, and continue to make our community big, beautiful and strong.

Photo Credit: Glee