As June begins, many individuals who are part of the LGBTQ+ community celebrate pride month. This month is when many Gay Pride parades and festivals are held, and it is a month set aside to encourage queer people to feel safe, important and accepted. While this month is overall a positive occurrence, there are many straight people who just cannot seem to understand that not everything is about them.
A common question I have seen straight people ask is “Why isn’t there a straight pride month or a straight pride parade?” Well, to all of my straight readers out there, I am about to answer this question for you.
People who are straight are never stripped of their recognition in society. Straight people have never had to fight for the right to marry who they love. Straight people do not have to worry about being themselves in public for fear of being harassed or denied service. Straight people have never felt the devastation of coming home from your first pride festival to the news that a gay club in Florida was shot up on the day of Pride and thinking ‘That could happen to me or my friends.” Straight people do not deal with the constant pressure and stress of coming out to new people and worrying about how they will react. Straight people have not known the same kind of oppression and shame that has rested upon the backs of LGBTQ+ people for far too long.
Pride month and pride parades and festivals are about providing acceptance and safety for LGBTQ+ people who need it. It is not about excluding straight people or saying that it is bad to be straight, it is about lifting others up to the level of pride that straight people are never stripped of in the first place.
I simply do not understand why straight people are so threatened by the idea of LGBTQ+ people having a month to be proud of who they are. For some, this is the only time that they feel this kind of pride at all.
It is time to face the facts, pretty much all of American history has been straight pride and normalization and glorification of heterosexual relationships. When straight people get an entire history of a country, why do they need another month set aside to feel the pride they were never told not to have? In an age where being gay is more acceptable, it is important to provide pride to the people who have lacked it for so long.
So, to all of my straight readers out there who are wondering why there is not a straight pride month: it is because every other month is prideful for all of you. There was never a time where you were made to feel ashamed of your sexuality therefore to have a straight pride month would make a mockery of a month that is important to LGBTQ+ people everywhere.
Straight people simply do not know the oppression that is practically required to have a month of pride set aside for themselves. Actually, straight people need to recognize their privilege and understand that gay pride month is not a privilege. This month was only resurrected because of oppression. It is not a privilege to have experienced enough oppression to have to reserve a month just to feel safe and loved and accepted.
It is time to be honest, there is no straight pride month because the eleven other months of the year are used for that. Just let LGBTQ+ people have their pride month in peace.
