To me, Pride is about accepting who you are even when others deny it. Pride is looking at bigotry in the face and saying, “You can’t change who I am. I am proud of who I am and no amount of hatred can change that.” It’s about overcoming fear and finding a community of people who will not give in to hatred. Pride is loving the parts of yourself that you are instructed to hide, ordered to hate. Pride is forming a new family—not of flesh and blood, but of undoubted love and acceptance. When I say I am proud to be LGBT, it’s not because I think I’m “better” than cis or straight people, but because I know that my differences are not something to be ashamed of. Pride is learning to love yourself. - Alex

To me, pride doesn’t mean Gay. Pride is about an overall acceptance and appreciation of everyone’s individualities. To come together as a group and say we’re not the same, and we may not get along, but I respect and appreciate the difference you bring to mankind. Be proud to be you and to not be the same. - Alex

Pride is about being true to who you are and appreciating the diversity in life. It’s being honored to call many people from this beautiful community my friends. Friends who have inspired me everyday with their strength and resilience. - Ariel

Pride means embracing all aspects of myself, and not cherry picking what I think people want of me. If I am proud of myself, I don’t hold myself back. - Chris

Pride is being hopeful you can find the freedom to live life out loud. - Eva

Pride to me means being part of a community that spreads so much love and kindness. Through that I learn to be and accept myself the way I am & of course spread that same love. - Franzi

Pride means allowing myself to truly express who I am. It means, happiness, love, and acceptance. It allows me to become Jasmine knowing that I can just be who I want to be without holding anything back. - Jasmine

Pride is acceptance of who and what you are and celebrating that in your own way. - Mike

Love, in all its forms, needs constant representation. In this day and age, we need it more. Darkness and hate are not new. The platforms on which they spew their vile rhetoric have simply expanded & been amplified. We therefore need more light, more kindness, more vulnerability, & more visibility to battle and balance the oppressors. We stand strong. We stand for love. We stand in PRIDE! - Julian

Pride means visibility and being proud of who you are, no matter what. - Jimmy, The American Oni

Pride is about love without judgment. Being comfortable with yourself is the first step to happiness; embrace you. Take chances, be willing to fail, have a sense of humor, and your world will be filled with love and acceptance. Your tribe awaits <3 - Pris

I’m Salina EsTitites, I’m 27 year old gay cis male who does drag. I’m proud to be who i am and let myself expression shine through drag. The transformation from male to female really excites me and i find that it’s that transformation that grabs people’s attention. It’s been a long journey to become authentically me and comfortable in my skin. It’s through my drag that i hope to shine that authenticity and allow others to do the same. Drag is such a large umbrella of self expression that there is no right or wrong way to do it, just like the lgbtq+ community, i find there’s beauty and power in that. Owning it and unapologetically saying, this is who i am, that’s pride. - Salina