GAY TIMES Magazine

26 May 2023

We are currently living through a time where the very act of partying as queer people is, in itself, a protest. Whether that’s enjoying your local drag performers in areas where drag bans have been imposed, to losing ourselves to the music in trans-inclusive spaces where trans+ people can experience joy without the fear of retribution or violence. Our happiness and wholeness is under attack. Explicitly celebrating and demonstrating it in spaces created for us lets us party in defiance of those who’d like to see our existence wiped away. In a world where right-wing ideas continue to tirelessly dominate mainstream media, I think I can speak for us all that we need and deserve a moment to dance away the depressing state of affairs. That’s not to say that global threats to LGBTQ+ healthcare, protections, education and human rights should be ignored. They must and will remain at the forefront of our activism this Pride season. We must continue to create spaces where all feel welcome and if we are entering spaces as allies to marginalised communities 2 within our LGBTQ+ family, it’s paramount that we respect the fact we rightly aren’t the focus at those events – as a white, cisgender gay male, I’m mainly speaking directly to others like me in this instance. But let’s embrace the opportunity this Pride season to honour its namesake: have pride in who you are and celebrate it to the fullest extent. You deserve to.