I’m just a straight cis male. To the Zoomers, I’m boring af. My wife is a bi-cis woman, plus she’s super intelligent, passionate, and gorgeous. I’ve watched every season of Sense8 and Pose multiple times. Those are some very gay-friendly and groundbreaking shows. I drank plenty of Bud Light in college and didn’t turn gay. I realize it was shit beer long before the MAGA crowd hated it. But my distaste for Bud Light isn’t because they have a commercial with a trans woman drinking it or a rainbow 🌈 flag on the can. It’s because I am no longer a broke-ass college kid, and life’s too short to drink shit beer.
It’s Pride Month again. It’s the time of the year when corporations who fund anti-gay political parties and leaders will slap a rainbow on their company’s logo in the name of faux diversity. Pride is more significant than just one month. It’s about people from a community under attack being out and proud despite all odds. Here are three top reasons my non-fabulous ass supports Pride.
Reason I
LGBTQ friends and family. My older sister came out to me when I was nine and she was seventeen. I didn’t know what a lesbian was then, but I didn’t care if she was gay. She was my sister, and I still loved her. I have friends, family, and co-workers with various sexual and gender orientations. I’m honored to have a good friend called “Jim.” I was one of the first people that Jim told they were transitioning. At that time, Jim went by Jill. Jim is a U.S. Navy veteran like me and has been a human rights advocate since our college days. It was a privilege to know a friend entrusted me enough to be one of the first people they told about this major life change in a step toward being their true authentic self.
I don’t care who they love or who they get their freak on with. I don’t care if they’re cis if they’re trans, or what pronouns they prefer. They’re still my friends and family. Nothing has changed their relationship with me. They’re still remarkable human beings. What’s wrong with treating folks as equals, no matter their sexuality or gender presentation?
Reason II
I’m comfortable with my sexuality. I’m straight, but I don’t get bothered when a guy flirts with me. I moved to ATL in 2015. I lived in North Atlanta. It was the hip and young professional part of town at that time. Atlanta is home to a substantial black LGTBQ population. Lots of professional and single men, gay and straight, were where I used to live. So, I got hit on by guys a lot. I wonder if it was the pastel-colored shirts my wife insisted I wear when I moved from Chicago. Or my LA Fitness membership was doing me damn good. It was ladies and fellas shooting their shots at me. I told my wife to watch out now. I gotta key her on her toes because the people still want me back in the game. But sorry, fellas, I’m on team Hetero.
It was no sweat off my brow. It was only one bug-a-boo who wouldn’t take no for an answer. I understood how the ladies feel when some thirsty dude won’t take no for an answer. It’s not a good position to be in. No one wants to choose violence when someone flirting with you won’t take a hint that you’re not interested in them.
Fellas, no means no. But I digress. I took those guys hollerin’ at me as a compliment and told them I’m straight and spoken for. I was flattered, and I didn’t feel my manhood was threatened. I took it in stride. Most men who are comfortable with their sexuality and in their own skin won’t be offended either unless you’re a raging homophobic asshole. Plus I can joke with my wife that if she leaves, I still got options.
Reason III
I stand with Pride because the first Pride was a riot. The Stonewall Riot, to be exact.
LGTBQ icons and revolutionaries like Marsha P. Johnson and James Baldwin were ahead of their time. They dared to be themselves when being openly queer was a possible death sentence in the United States. Unfortunately, that’s still the case in many parts of the world today.
In the United States, the rise of the Christian Right and their unholy alliance with the Republican Party, which is aided by cowardly Democrats, have drafted anti-LGBTQ legislation in statehouses nationwide. Today 500-plus bills are being proposed nationwide attacking LGBTQ individuals, including trans kids. The United States has made tremendous progress on LGBTQ rights and acceptance. In the 2020s, they are facing conservative and hateful backlash. It’s easy for those who aren’t a part of this community to look the other way because they aren’t affected. But these reactionary forces will come after other social ‘others’ if we let them have their way. First, gay people, then Jewish people, and then black and brown people. Fascism is a sloppy slope.
As a straight black male, I stand with my LGBTQ peeps during these times of renewed attacks and hatred being spewed at Drag queens, trans kids, and other members of the LGBTQ community. Corrupt political leaders are trying to ban people from being who they are and preventing people from understanding a considerable part of the human experience. This comes from the crowd claiming they want to get Big Government out of your personal life. But these fuckers seem to be invested in policing sexuality and gender norms. I don’t care who people love or what pronouns they use. It shouldn’t be a crime to be your true self. Love is love.
Evolving Folks Project 