Pride Month matters — discrimination is still too real

Acceptance can be hard to come by for anyone in the LGBTQ+ community.

Families disown kin who associate with those letters. Employers discriminate. The health care system isn’t always helpful. The education community can be hostile. Housing can be hard to obtain. The general public, strangers can be so cruel.

That’s why June’s Pride Month still matters. Because people are still being discriminated against, persecuted, ridiculed, hurt and even killed. Yes, even in the United States.

“In 2025, the ALERT Desk tracked 1,042 anti-LGBTQ incidents in 47 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. These included 128 acts of hateful vandalism, 76 violent assaults, 22 threats of mass violence, and 15 arson attempts. This is up from 984 incidents tracked in 2024, a 5 percent increase in hate,” according to GLAAD, the world’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer media advocacy organization.

Maybe 1,042 incidents doesn’t seem like a lot to you, maybe it does. To me, it’s 1,042 incidents too many. To me, there is no excuse for a single incident.

Plus, those are just the reported incidents. They don’t include the slurs, which might be too many to count.

Diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives are dwindling under this administration. That isn’t good for the LGBTQ+ community. It isn’t good for society.

If you have never had state or federal legislation affect your life choices, count yourself among the lucky—among the privileged. So many others are still fighting for equality even with laws on the books supposedly protecting them.

Pride events came out of the 1969 Stonewall uprising in New York City. The first parade was a year later.

“The term Pride was coined in 1970 by activist Craig Schoonmaker, who in a 2015 interview said: ‘There’s very little chance for people in the world to have power… But anyone can have pride in themselves, and that would make them happier as people, and produce the movement likely to produce change.’ By celebrating Pride as a community, we empower ourselves and our movement. Our movement is stronger when we are prouder,” states the National LGBTQ Task Force website.

President Bill Clinton in 1999 proclaimed June Gay and Lesbian Pride Month, while President Barack Obama in 2011 expanded it to be Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month.

If you aren’t in the LGBTQ+ community, be an ally. It matters which side you are on. You are either with us or against us. Being a supporter doesn’t mean you have to understand all the letters, but not being a supporter or being silent is giving power to the haters.