From 1979 to 2024: A Journey of Strength, Unity, and PRIDE

In 1979, a sixteen-year-old couldn’t express themselves the way some sixteen-year-olds can in 2024. It didn’t stop us, though. We modeled ourselves after larger-than-life icons who showed us it was good to be strong and different and to believe that there was a place somewhere out there for all of us to belong.

We listened to John Lennon, who said we could imagine a world where peace prevailed. We chased dreams in underground clubs in New York City, where one could dance all night to The Boss with Diana Ross — ascending mountains that were built to slow us down. We used our voices and our outrageousness to stand strong as Cyndi Lauper climbed a tower of speakers at Boston Commons to belt out “I’m Gonna Be Strong” while we fought for the PRIDE we knew our communities needed.

Too many of our lovers, friends, and self-made families died in the ’80s when, what at the time we didn’t know would be something that would change our lives forever. So when the pandemic hit in 2020, we had already lived the isolation, the fear, and the hope that we needed to self-generate a new way of living.

Our community, like so many others, suffered from the disownment or abandonment by our own families because we stood up to social and cultural norms to express ourselves. They hurt us for not being like them and for loving something untethered to a heterosexual relationship.

Yet even that didn’t stop us.

Eventually, we won in the courts, achieving same-sex marriage. So today, we say to all our generations — don’t give up.

Stay strong, but fight peacefully and only for the things that hold equal kindness, equal peace, and equal justice for all — at the expense of none.

Stick together. Vote. Help each other vote. Get registered and research your information — stay informed. And again, be kind. Ask for nothing less in return but the outcome of a free and just world.

Celebrate each other. Celebrate PRIDE.

You are loved, you are safe, you are enough, and you matter!

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Photo by Steve Johnson on Unsplash