Understanding PRIDE and continuing the support

Come June, and the chances of you seeing rainbow colour merchandises, badges, stickers, t-shirts, and most commonly rainbow coloured flags are pretty high. June is celebrated as PRIDE month, popularly called Pride. The LGBTQ+ community use this festival to promote and bring to the forefront the cause of their equality, visibility, dignity and self- affirmation through marches, protests, music and theater events, parties and gatherings etc. in a month long festival. The community uses the rainbow coloured flag to represent their causes. While the flag traditionally has 6 colours of the rainbow, other colours can sometimes be added to signify a specific cause or support a specific subgroup of the community.

The beginnings of this month long celebration of Pride stems from the Stonewall Uprising of 1969 in Manhattan, United States. Originally, it was celebrated as “Gay Pride Day” to advocate for their rights. However, in 1969, Manhattan witnessed a widespread riots in response to the police atrocities against the LGBTQ community. Since then, Pride Month has been celebrated in the month of June to coincide with the Stonewall Uprising anniversary that falls in the end of June. This is different from the LGBT Day or the National Day of Coming Out celebrated in the United States on October 11, that coincides with the LGBTQ History Month.

While the Pride reminds people of equality and acceptance, it also brings with it the awareness of mental health issues in the community. Several researches on this population indicate the members of the LGBTQ+ community are at least twice, if not more, likely to be diagnosed with depression, anxiety, PTSD, attempt suicide, experience suicidal thoughts, and engage in self-harm behaviours as a means of coping with stress and situations. This when couples with the lack of available and safe resources for them to approach/utilize makes them the forerunner for mental health crisis. Therapy is not always a safe and available option for the community and they sometimes tend to rely on members of their own community and/or a few others who they know are safe, for support.

Here’s how to continue to support the community outside of the Pride celebrations –

- Be an ally. An ally is anyone who supports, stands by, and promotes equality for the LGBTQ+ community. Some ways of supporting the community can be through volunteering work, advocating for the community, donating to their causes, standing up for these individuals, attending their events etc.

- Listen and create a safe space. Be their safe space. Many individuals in the LGBTQ+ society do not have a space where they feel safe and comfortable to truly be who they are. They are also unable trust many others in order to be their authentic selves. This may be a result of, or result in trauma and aid in the development of other mental health issues. One way of supporting these individuals is by creating, and maintaining a secure, non-judgmental environment.

- Do not assume. It is often assumed that anyone who belongs to the LGBTQ+ community is gay or lesbian. That need not be the case. They may be cis-gendered or trans, they may be exploring their identity and sexuality, or may identify as belonging to more than one sexual identity. There are often assumptions also made on whether someone is out or not, whether their journey has been traumatic or not. There are no definites. Do not assume. Be courteous, respectful, and ask each person you meet for their pronouns, name, preferred name, and if applicable for other details.

- Do your research. While many people are willing to part with information about being LGBTQ+, it is also not their responsibility to educate others. ask them but don’t expect them to educate you. It is your responsibility to educate yourself.

- Be mindful and be respectful. As rhetoric as this may sound, people are often very disrespectful towards these folx. This may happen intentionally or even subtly and unintentionally. It is extremely important, especially for the heterosexual community to be mindful and respectful of the others’ differences in appearances, their pronouns, their gender and sexuality, of their experiences, deadnames etc. For example, assuming that a slip in pronouns, or deadnames is no big deal, would be very insensitive. That being said, many of us slip and make mistakes, because we are all learning. Apologizing and correcting oneself immediately would go a long way as it would lead to these individuals feeling validated.

While we may have come a long way from the Stonewall Uprising in terms of equality and rights for the LGBTQ+ community, we still have a long way to go in providing them with safety, security, and an unbiased society.