Why We Celebrate Pride
Exploring the importance of Pride.
Pride is joy.
Pride is resistance.
Pride is community.
Pride is protest.
We celebrate Pride in the month of June each year to raise LGBTQIA+ voices together: "We're here, we're queer, and we're not going anywhere!"
It is as much a civil demonstration as it is a celebration. Queer people deserve to live their lives openly without fear. We deserve proper healthcare, human rights, & an informed education. Just this year alone, 113 U.S. anti-trans bills have passed with 101 of those now signed into law. 732 more anti-trans bills are in consideration across 49 states.
Hate crimes, overall, have risen over the past several years—and that very much includes LGBT+ folks. In particular, queer people of color are the most at risk to be targeted in violent hate crimes.
July 1, 2019, marked the 50th anniversary of the ending of the Stonewall Uprising, seen by many as the spark that ignited the modern gay-rights movement in the U.S. The first gay pride marches were conducted the following summer, and while there’s no doubt that much has changed since the police pounded on the door of the Stonewall Inn in New York City’s Greenwich Village, for many members of the LGBT community, violence and harassment, even the specter of murder, are still a part of their daily lives.
It may no longer be a crime in this country to be gay, but hate crimes against LGBT people are on the rise, and members of that community are now the most likely of any group to be victims of hate-motivated attacks. For those who are LGBT+, that probably doesn’t feel like progress.
—Aliza Vigderman, Senior Editor, Security Industry Analyst, "Anti-LGBT Hate Crimes Are Rising" from security.org
Brandon Wolf (he/him), the Human Rights Campaign National Press Secretary & Senior Director of Political Communications, joined MSNBC on 5/30/25 to unveil this year’s Pride theme: “These Colors Don’t Run.”
Pride is for everyone.
It is defiance in the face of growing hate & harmful legislation. It is a refusal to bow to the conspiracy theories peddled in the name of dehumanizing LGBT+ people.
It is also a grand opposition to fear, misery, and anxiety to confront a hostile world with love & joy.
It would be so, so easy to drown in the mire of nihilism; to be pulled into the riptide of despair as the federal government continues its crusade against trans, non-binary, and gender nonconforming people. I feel it, often, snapping at my heels.
Pride is a chance to come together as a community and uplift our joy!
Our happiness, our laughter, our glee—these are the stuff of pure resistance. So often, any media representation of queer people focuses on our suffering. The suffering of trans people or the pain of gay people are played for drama. But our lives aren't just these dank, dismal things!
I love being a part of the LGBTQIA+ community. It is filled with wonderful, exuberant people. It is a place where families of all kinds are welcome, in whatever permutation—two dads, two moms, a nonbinary guardian, trans kids, gay grandparents, drag queen cousins, polyamorous aunties, DINK uncles—and simply be themselves in a place that is affirming & supportive. It is a place abundant in art, self-expression, and camaraderie.
Jessica Kellgren-Fozard (she/her)—a lesbian British Youtuber, queer historian, vintage fashionista, disability activist, & proud mother—gives tips to parents on how to talk to their children about Pride & the LGBTQ+ community. [6/1/25]
For those of us in the LGBTQIA+ community, Pride is a chance to step into ourselves in a way that can be difficult (or downright dangerous) the other eleven months of the year. But while the various corporations clamoring for our dollars will hang up their rainbows come midnight, July 1st, we are queer all-year-long.
Last Saturday, June 7th, I had the honor to volunteer at the Greater Lowell Pride Festival in neighboring Lowell, MA. Despite the rain, the turnout was still good, and I felt my heart heal with the amount of love, kindness, and support present in all the colorfully dressed people, from kids chasing bubbles to elderly folks catching up with their long-time neighbors.
Too often, the vitriol common on social media skews our perspective on the world. How much hate is truly out there? Is it just a "vocal minority" like everyone says? Or are all the hate comments, veiled threats, and mockery indicative of a more frightening prospect—that, as a queer person, I am no longer safe or accepted in my community?
I need Pride this year. I think a lot of us do.
We need Pride every year, but this year, under the rise of anti-trans conservatism and LGBTQIA+ hate, it feels urgently necessary.
