Every June, cities around the world burst into color as flags wave, streets fill with joy, and communities come together to celebrate Pride Month. But beyond the parades, performances, and glitter, Pride is at its heart, a powerful reminder of visibility, resilience, and love. It honors the milestones of equality, safety, and the right to simply exist.
A History of Resistance and Resilience
Pride began as a response to injustice. The Stonewall Uprising of 1969, led by trans women of color like Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, marked a turning point in the fight for LGBTQ+ rights. Pride grew from that spark, evolving from protest marches into a global movement.
Yet even today, many LGBTQ+ individuals face discrimination, erasure, and violence. That’s why Pride remains crucial—it keeps our stories alive and ensures our voices are heard.
Why Visibility Matters
For many, Pride is the first time they feel seen. It’s where someone might first try to wear makeup, dress the rainbow, or wear a gaff, binder, or packer, all for the first time. It’s where chosen families lovingly gather, affirming the identities and experiences that mainstream spaces so often overlook. And it’s where allies learn, listen, and grow.
Products like the gaff, for example, are more than undergarments. They’re tools of self-expression and affirmation. For trans women and nonbinary individuals who tuck, finding the right fit isn’t about vanity; it’s about comfort, safety, confidence, and dignity. During Pride Month, we see these truths honored in full color.
A Time to Celebrate and Reflect
While Pride is joyful, it’s also a time to reflect on those we’ve lost to injustice, neglect, and silence. It’s a space to acknowledge the intersections of queerness, race, class, and ability, and to amplify voices still pushed to the margins.
It’s a reminder that affirming care, inclusive fashion, and comfortable gender-affirming garments like binders, packers and gaffs are necessities. Our bodies are not up for debate. Our joy is not optional.
Looking Ahead
Every Pride, we look backward with gratitude and forward with determination. We push for a world where every LGBTQ+ person feels safe, affirmed, and loved. May this moment of observance not just in June, but always.
So yes, Pride is a celebration. But more than that, it’s a lifeline. It’s an invitation to keep showing up for ourselves, for each other, and for those still finding their way.
Happy Pride. You belong here. Always.
