Yaama (hello), my name is Kacie and I am a member of the Sir David Martin Foundation’s Youth Advisory Group.
While June is Pride Month, pride can be, and is, celebrated year-round within the community. Pride in every one of our stories and experiences is what strengthens our community. Being able to embrace oneself fully, and having a receptive and supportive community who also accepts and embraces you, is the key to walking in one’s truth. Therefore, it is our job as a society to foster environments where our young people: feel safe and secure, are free to express themselves, feel confident and self-assured, and are not judged. We shape our young people, so let us give them the tools to be PROUD.
Pride Month is not just a time for celebration, but also commemoration and veneration of those LGBTQIA+ people who came before us and fought for improved visibility, rights, and pushed back against discrimination. It is also a time to shed a light on the work that still must be done until equity and equality are reached. Pride, to me, is the culmination of celebration of self and of the LGBTQIA+ community, as well as an emotional testament to our strength, resilience, and fortitude. Being proud is the ultimate gift to self, and to others.
With all this being said, for me it is important to identify my positionality within the LGBTQIA+ community. I am cis, I am currently in a heterosexual relationship, and I am Aboriginal. So, the way in which I experience my queerness and the LGBTQIA+ community is intersectional, and may look very different to the experiences of others in the community. I say all this as a reminder that the LGBTQIA+ community is full of unique stories, like my own, and that is why celebrating Pride is so important.
