Commentary

Why we need to be proud to be queer, now more than ever

Why we need to be proud to be queer, now more than ever

I was just about to head to Penn’s Landing when I heard the news. The confirmed death toll from the terrorist hate crime attack at Pulse in Orlando was 20 at that point. About an hour later, standing in the bright sun with a cooling breeze coming off the Delaware River at the Pride festival, amid streaming rainbows and thousands of happy festival-goers, I stopped to check my phone: now 50 dead, 53 injured. The deadliest mass shooting in American history, an anti-LGBT hate crime so unbelievably horrific that all others pale in comparison, and there I was, celebrating Pride in my newly-adopted city, Philadelphia, celebrating my queer identity in the bosom of the LGBT community in the city I now call home.

The irony was not lost on me.

Looking up from my phone, the events of that grim morning in Florida didn’t seem to have dimmed the celebration at all. There wasn’t any visible acknowledgement of the attack to be found anywhere I could see at the festival. Somehow, I found that comforting. I wasn’t there to grieve. I knew there would be time for that later.

Back at home, hours later, I sorted through the bag full of multicolored swag I’d collected during my time at Philly Pride and then turned on my computer. I watched live feeds from a spontaneous gathering at the Stonewall in New York, and found an announcement of a vigil to be held here in Philly. But after awhile, I just couldn’t take anymore and instead watched some Star Trek.

More than anything else at that moment, I just needed some hope.

These days, if you’re queer, and especially if you’re trans, it’s easy to get discouraged, to feel that for every step forward we’re still taking two steps back. For every Macy decision, there’s an HB2 and a Kiesha Jenkins, for every Obergefell ruling, a HERO and an Orlando. For every right, two stunningly unjust and heinous wrongs.

Those of us who’ve been around a while know this isn’t a new thing. It’s older than all of us, older than Pride, older than what we now call the LGBTQ community. It’s as old as hate. Hate for those who differ from the norm, hate for those who don’t share the beliefs of others, hate for those seen as standing in the way of certain social and cultural outlooks and political ideologies.

Hatred of queer people, of you and me, of what we believe, and of the way we choose to live our lives.

Yes, it’s easy to become discouraged, and to feel as if the only answer is to give voice to our grief, to allow it to consume us and to give full reign to our desire for righteous retribution. Tragedies like this hurt and even damage the queer heart and soul. They change us in ways which are both significant and permanent. They teach us that in the eyes of our enemies, as well as in our own, in a very real way we are at war.

And we will grieve, because we must when family members are taken from us. What we can’t do, however, is respond in kind. What we must do is what we’re doing now and will continue to do this month and beyond: take Pride in ourselves, as individuals and as a community, to continue to stand up and refuse to be bent or be bowed, to refuse to live in the kind of fear terrorists seek to inspire in us, or to see ourselves as lesser beings as we are portrayed by our enemies.

It’s become almost a cliché to say that we must not give in to fear and let the terrorists win, but the familiarity of the sentiment doesn’t make it any less true. Our community’s history is one of fighting against the myriad of injustices inflicted upon us. In many ways, it’s what defines who we are. It’s why we still need Pride, why we need to celebrate who and what we are, to ourselves and to each other.

This is a time when we most need to draw upon our collective strength as a community and to reaffirm our commitment to leaving no one behind, not now, not ever.

We will mourn those lost in Orlando, and then we will dry our tears and fight on, because that’s who we are. Because it’s what defines us. Because this is our Pride.

Rebecca Juro is the host of The Rebecca Juro Show and is a nationally published freelance journalist. Her work has appeared in the Huffington Post, the Washington Blade, Gay City News, bilerico.com, advocate.com, and The Advocate magazine, among others. Rebecca has been a Bilerico Project Contributor since August 2007.

Don't forget to share:

Support vital LGBTQ+ journalism

Reader contributions help keep LGBTQ Nation free, so that queer people get the news they need, with stories that mainstream media often leaves out. Can you contribute today?

Cancel anytime · Proudly LGBTQ+ owned and operated

How religious are erasing, embracing us after Orlando

Previous article

Florida prosecutor who believes Orlando ‘should be leveled’ suspended

Next article