June is Pride month, and as emphasized in my previous article, there are many important things to protest; Pride is a protest before anything, after all. Still, Pride is also a celebration. We celebrate not only our existence, but also our progress—a reminder that our protests work, even one step at a time.
Years ago, the LGBT+ community existed primarily as stereotypes: the funny gay best friends who dressed well, or the short-haired lesbians who were good at basketball. We were the entertainers and the comedic relief. Today, we no longer exist in stereotypes. Mainstream media now includes respectful representation of all kinds of people. We are portrayed as students, professionals, parents, office mates, executives, and artists, among others, and most importantly, we are seen as humans—real people who exist outside clubs and bars, and not just side characters to a straight person’s story. We even have shows, films, and novels with LGBT+ main characters. The younger generations are so lucky that they can see themselves properly represented in all kinds of art these days, which is undoubtedly a more accurate representation of the world anyway.
Other than representation, we have more public figures either proudly coming out or publicly supporting the community. Unlike in the past when people thrived on gossip that a celebrity was gay, today, celebrities casually come out by themselves on social media, and their supporters are happy for them. More often than not, their fan bases even grow.
As someone who grew up hearing my sexuality used as an insult, I find this surreal—people can actually come out publicly these days, when during my time, it was taboo to even say “gay” or “lesbian” unless it was to taunt or humiliate someone. It’s still difficult to reclaim words such as “bakla” or “tomboy,” and even typing them feels uncomfortable, but it becomes easier upon the reminder that these words should not be insults in the first place.
Arguably the greatest progress made so far is with families. Many parents today are proud of and stand up for their children regardless of the latter’s sexuality. Pride marches pre-pandemic included parents who were there just to celebrate with their children, or to provide hugs and parental support to those with homophobic parents. These kinds of parents deserve the world.
It’s true that representation is still not perfect, many are still forced to stay in the closet to save their careers, and there are still children who are disowned or kicked out because of their sexualities. Still, we fight on. Challenges may be discouraging, but we celebrate our progress, no matter how small; we owe it to those who have fought for the community from the very beginning, and we owe it to ourselves, too. It is great fuel to see the fruits of our own protests—more acceptance, confidence, and love, and less violence, suicides, and hatred.
Many of us, especially the youth, are safe and accepted in our own circles. There are some of us who are accepted by the general community, usually because of exceptional fame, intelligence, or privilege; these people are usually seen as exceptions to the general rule of homophobia, and they are incredibly lucky. However, we have to remember that, in the words of Riz Ahmed, “exceptions don’t change the rules,” so discrimination remains the general rule.
Thus, if we are one of the lucky ones who have the power to change the minds and perspectives of those with homophobic or other discriminatory ideologies, we should not stop at our own safety. We fight on for our brothers and sisters who do not have the same privilege that we do. We have to continue making safe spaces as we open our eyes to the realities outside our safe circles. There are many developments to celebrate, and there are many issues to protest, but this is precisely what Pride is all about. Happy Pride!
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