Song of the day:
Wayback Wednesday
In honor of the start of Pride month, please enjoy this collage of my NOH8 photos, the first with my dear friend Travis. I still love and wholly agree with our message: All you need is LOVE.
Happy Pride!
What is Pride? And why is it celebrated in June? Per Awareness Days, “Every year, during the month of June, the LGBT community celebrates in a number of different ways. Across the globe, various events are held during this special month as a way of recognising the influence LGBT people have had around the world. Why was June chosen? Because it is when the Stonewall Riots took place, way back in 1969.”
If you don’t know much about the LGBTQIA+ community, I encourage you to find time this month to do some research, ask questions, and learn a few things. I’ll try to give you some information through this newsletter as well.
Did you know? Here are a few facts from dosomething.org to get you started:
6 in 10 LGBT students report feeling unsafe at school because of their sexual orientation.
In July 2009, the Senate approved the Matthew Shepard Act, which outlaws hate crimes based on both sexual orientation and gender identity.
42% of people who are LGBT report living in an unwelcoming environment and 80% of gay and lesbian youth report severe social isolation.
The SJSU Pride Center has a lot of information and resources available as well.
To all those celebrating Pride this month, I wish you peace, joy and love. To all those working on expanding their knowledge to better understand their LGBTQIA+ friends and family, I applaud you. There is always more to learn, and doing so makes us better and more compassionate humans.
Video of the day:
“Pride is existing with integrity.”
“This is me, this is my home, this is where I belong.”
“In order to have pride you have to have so much courage.”