Pride Month may be over, but our pride in ourselves, our families, and our communities will be the fuel that keeps us going all year long. Here’s where I’m finding inspiration and mission right now.
First and foremost, I am buoyed by all that LGBTQ families have to be proud of, including a long history of resilience and resourcefulness; communities of care and compassion; growing representation, despite the efforts to limit it; and committed allies. We are continuing to start and grow our families and to see our children develop into and thrive as adults.
I have also been pondering the words of “Black, lesbian, feminist, socialist, mother, warrior, poet” Audre Lorde, who wrote in 1988, “Caring for myself is not self-indulgence. It is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.” The self-care of which Lorde speaks doesn’t mean simply treating oneself to spa days, but rather taking action in support of one’s health, which also means dismantling the systems that harm it and protecting the communities of which one is part. Lorde was talking specifically about self-care for Black people, and while I want to recognize the original meaning and intent of her words, I cannot help but think about how trans youth (and trans people generally) are trying to care for themselves right now and how doing so has indeed become “an act of political warfare.” While they are not the only part of the LGBTQ community that is facing challenges in the current moment, they are feeling the brunt of our government’s assault. Supporting and protecting them should be a mission for us all.
And in thinking about all of the many challenges that remain for all of us, trans and cis, I am trying to heed the words of another lesbian mother, Adrienne Rich, who wrote in 1977:
My heart is moved by all I cannot save:
so much has been destroyed
I have to cast my lot with those
who age after age, perversely,
with no extraordinary power,
reconstitute the world.
May we take those words with us as we move beyond Pride Month, but never beyond pride.