Happy Pride Month!

Welcome to JUNE and everyone knows what that means!

PRIDE MONTH!!!!

As someone who identifies as a bisexual female, I used to love going to the parades, and celebrating Pride with my friends and family. June was always a time of year that I enjoyed because it always brought a sense of community and belonging. Now, I must say I have been extremely lucky in the fact that my family has always supported me when I came out in 2011 at the age of 25. But I found that something about the month of June (and September for the city I live in- with the college and university pride celebrations) that brought out even more in people- an understanding and appreciation for others.

As I have aged though part of me feels compelled to reach out to members of the community, as I do not necessary feel like that proud bisexual woman anymore. I have been in a heterosexual relationship for 8 years now with someone who completely loves and understands me. He has always supported me and has never made me feel uncomfortable about my sexuality and has never restricted my activities within the community. But for some reason I have found that myself I have moved away from the Pride celebrations that I once attended with excitement. I know that my priorities have changed as I have aged, as has my tendency to party, and part of me worries that my identity as a bisexual woman was related more towards the party lifestyle that I had at that time, versus my actual support of my own sexuality.

From a young age I always had an attraction towards both men and women, however I never fully acted on it until I was in my 20s. It was new and exciting, and I felt like I knew who I finally was, that all the pieces were finally making sense to me. Once I came out to my family, I never hid the fact that I was bisexual- and I would often find that my friends who were "straight" would often ask me questions because they wanted to have a better understanding of the community. I would give my experiences and my thoughts on subjects with the understanding that I did not speak for everyone.

But now as I sit here as a 36-year-old I wonder if I have lost my own Pride? I understand that sexuality can be very fluid, however I worry that I am slowly losing that part of my identity. Yes, I still feel like I identify as a bisexual female, but if I do not take an active role in the community by going to Pride functions, parades, or making the posts on social media about how happy I am to be bisexual- am I hiding my true self away again? I have always had a small issue with companies that bring out the rainbow pride on June 1st and take it down on July 1st- and act as if their one month of support (and increases in sales) truly make a difference. But does this hostility towards corporations mean I have lost my Pride?

Am I happy that people today can for the most part live and be who they want to be? 1000000000% yes. Nothing makes me more proud than to see kids being able to be who they want to be. Adults feeling free to tell people they love who they are. The mass number of changes that are happening for same sex couples, and all members of the community being able to finally have legal rights for healthcare, marriages, adoptions- the list goes on. And do I feel like we should celebrate and support these things? A million times over yes.

But how can someone get their own personal pride back when it feels lost? Maybe my pride is now seeing the next generation be free to be who they are. Maybe my pride is knowing deep down who I am and working harder to feel more at ease with that. I do not know if I have to hang a flag off my balcony, or make my social media post to feel more Pride about my sexuality, but I want to know if there are other people out there who feel like I do? And if people do feel that way, have they been able to get their PRIDE back?

All in all, I wish everyone an incredibly happy PRIDE month! Love is greater than anything, and I am so incredibly happy to live in a time where love can be shown and celebrated! So, to all of you I wish you a happy June! Happy Pride and show your colours loud and proud!!