Pride in November

National Veterans and Military Family Month has been observed in November for 20 years, but Pete Sampson says the time to honor veterans is too often minimized to just one day. At least, that's what he keeps seeing individuals taking "anti-Pride Month stances" on social media do in June each year.

To help raise awareness of November's significance for veterans outside of Veterans Day alone, Sampson is taking a different approach — he's planning a Pride calendar for November.

"Every year, I see people arguing that we shouldn't have Pride month because veterans only get one day," Sampson explained in a post on TikTok. "This is always followed by several people explaining the veteran and military holidays, but the argument keeps repeating itself. This year, I decided that if these s0-called patriots don't want to plan anything for veterans, the LBGTQ+ community can raise awareness ourselves."

In that video, Sampson announced four events planned in his hometown of Lakewood, Ohio, including an LGBTQ+ trivia night fundraiser for the Wounded Warrior Project, a "gay vets" mixer with LGBTQ-friendly veteran resource organizations in attendance, a Pride parade highlighting LGBTQ+ veterans and general veteran appreciation, and a "veteran appreciation" drag show with free admission for all interested veterans.

Within days of the announcement, flyers began appearing around the city advertising more events. Surge, the club hosting the finale drag show event, added an additional "Veteran Pride Night" and a rainbow-inspired drink menu for the month in support.

"I'm sick of the homophobia cloaked in fake concern for our vets," club-owner Francine Davis told The Lakewood Local. "A percent of sales from our November Pride events are going to a fund for local, homeless vets. We're not just talk here. We're putting our money where our mouths are."

Sampson has received overwhelmingly positive feedback in the weeks since he publicly shared the awareness campaign.

"Seeing the community rally behind an idea I had to combat this trend with real support for veterans has been incredible," Sampson shared in an interview. "While I have gotten a few negative responses online, I have seen a lot more offers to help and to donate. People in other cities are sharing details about events they're hosting in their own communities after seeing my video."

Advertisements for similar events have since appeared in Columbus, Chicago, New York, and other cities across the country.

"Some people want to erase us and erase Pride, but Pride is a movement first and foremost. I think we can use our community for good, increase our visibility, and remind those people that LGBTQ+ veterans served this country too," Sampson said. "So happy National Veterans and Military Family Month and happy Pride this November."