Nerdology 101: The Magic of Pride

Hey there! Welcome back to Nerdology 101. It’s pride!!!!! In honor of that, I’m dedicating this blog post to pride month. Let’s get into some Nerdology!

History and Relevance

If you don’t already know, Pride Month dates back to the Stonewall Uprising, a protest from LGBTQIA+ that came about because gay bars and other LGBTQIA+ friendly spaces were being attacked by the feds. The uprising was led by Marsha P. Johnson, a Black trans woman, and Sylvia Rivera, a Puerto Rican trans woman. It lasted 6 days and on it’s first anniversary, many of those who rose up in those 6 days returned. The celebration they held that day, taking to the streets, was marked as the first Pride.

Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera were advocates for their community all their lives. Each June, we continue to honor their legacy by honoring the communities they fought so hard to protect. Today, Pride has been distorted in many ways. In part, by capitalism. The involvement of corporate entities led many to forget what Pride is supposed to be about. Instead, to many it’s now reduced to a good time and some rainbow colored merch. It’s important that those who aren’t members of the LGBTQIA+ community do better because it’s our complacency that allows continued attacks on LGBTQIA+ rights. An ally needs to fight with the community in the hard times, not just celebrate with them when it’s convenient. Activism will always require you to be active. Action is important, so today I want to give you a list of action items that will help the community.

Action Items

1. Buy from businesses owned by queer people. Not just during pride. Whenever you can. This also means supporting artists who are members of the community. Books, music, paintings, designers, etc.

2. Donate to organizations helping queer people. These can be local, national, or international. Just make sure they’re actually doing something to help. If you’re from the Eastern Shore like I am, CAMP LGBTQIA+ Community Center is a great choice. They help LGBTQIA+ people find community in Sussex County, DE, Delaware’s most rural and right-leaning county. Other, larger, organizations can include The Trevor Project, Transgender Law Center, and more.

3. Don’t ignore intersectionality. The LGBTQIA+ community is marginalized, period. But as with any marginalized community, there are people within it who fall into other marginalized groups. This includes Black and brown people, women, disabled people, and more. When someone falls into more than one marginalized group, they often face more discrimination and have to fight on more than one front. Don’t overlook them. Find their businesses, their art, their social media, and support them. Listen to them, what they need, and anything else they want to and just listen. There are endless creators that make content to educate people on intersectionality. Don’t take offense. Don’t act like you know more about their experience than they do. It is okay sometimes to just listen, take the feedback, and do the work.

4. Learn. Seriously, do research on your own. Though some LGBTQIA+ people might be fine answering questions you have about their identities, some times it can also be burdensome having to explain yourself constantly. Plenty of educational materials already exist. There’s articles, books, research, and more. It’s great that you want to learn, but try using a library or the internet to do so. Then, once you’ve done some legwork of your own, you can ask individual people about their personal experiences and identity if they feel comfortable with that instead of expecting one person to explain every identity to you.

5. Remember that association with one doesn’t mean you’re safe for all. You can’t call yourself and ally and only be prepared to stand up for gay people or lesbians. You can’t pick and choose which identities deserve rights. If you have a negative viseral reaction to anyone under the umbrella, do the work to be better.

To Members of the Community

For most of this post, I’ve primarily been addressing allies. This is because I felt the best way to support you this pride was to make sure your allies had some clear action items to help them be better allies. Now, though, I want to talk to you directly.

I say this a lot when posting about the community, but I feel its important to repeart. No matter your identity, it’s valid. Being gay or lesbian is valid. Being Bi or pan or omni is valid. Being trans, two spirit, or nonbinary is valid. Being ace/aro is valid. Whether your questioning, not out, or out, your experiences ARE valid. No matter how many times the world tries to tell you it isn’t, it is. The world is wrong. Fuck them. I’m glad you exist.

Also, if you have anything at all you’d like to add, I’m happy to listen and update this post anonomously. I’ll do my best to amplify your voice wherever possible.

Love ya, you wonderful humans!

Conclusion

That’s about it for this segment of Nerdology 101. Check back next week for another. Until then, have a nerdy week and a wonderful pride.