Once again, the minorities can’t have anything to themselves. With #BlackLivesMatter came #WhiteLivesMatter and #AllLivesMatter. With Black History Month, we have people demanding White History Month. With International Women’s Day, there are those who want International Men’s Day. And now, in the month of June, which is LGBT+ Pride Month, there’s been a new call for majority representation with #HeterosexualPrideMonth.
This hashtag surfaced on Twitter earlier this week and has seen a wave of responses, from those in favor and those criticizing it. Many in favor of it claim that it’s a way for them to “celebrate who they are” and be proud of being straight. They claim that many of the criticizers are oppressing them and not letting them enjoy their sexuality. Those against this, however, make better points, in my opinion.
Many have compared this to White History Month and make the claim that you can’t or shouldn’t have a celebration of the majority because every day is a celebration for them. The fact that White people don’t have to worry as much as a Black person about being murdered by the police or being dragged by the media for various things is one reason. The fact that up until this century the history of America was dominated by White presidents and White supremacy says a lot about the need behind Black History Month, a time to celebrate Black leaders, icons, achievements and so on. The same thing goes for Pride month.
Anyone not straight or cisgender (when your gender identity corresponds with the sex you were identified as at birth) is considered a minority. While there are a lot of people within this community, we still only make up a small percentage of the overall population. We are still hated, feared, discriminated against, in danger of losing our jobs, losing our friends and families, losing our lives because of who we are. Pride month, Pride festivals and parades, they’re all a way for us to celebrate everything we’ve had to go through in the past several decades. From being considered mentally ill to Stonewall to the Pulse massacre a few weeks ago, the history of the LGBT+ community is fraught with violence and discrimination.
The first pride was one of the Stonewall Riots, for goodness’ sake. And now there’s a group of people that wants to have a Heterosexual Pride Day just because it’s one other thing that they can take away from a minority group and claim as their own. You don’t get a special day to celebrate your sexuality because you literally do it every day anyway. Heterosexual couples make up 99 percent of TV romances; straight, cisgender characters are the focus of so many movies; it’s a surprise talking point when any LGBT+ character shows up in the media.
You don’t have to worry about keeping your job, walking around a city or holding hands with your partner. You don’t have to come out to your friends and family. Being straight and cisgender is considered the norm — it's accepted and promoted by society. There’s nothing that you need to be afraid of when you pick out clothes in the morning. You don’t have to keep your sexuality a secret, you don’t have to deal with "joking" -- derogatory -- “no homo” comments.
Every day that you get to live without being afraid or ashamed is Heterosexual Pride Day. Be glad that you don’t need a reason to celebrate your sexuality, because you get to do that when you can freely hold hands with the person you love. You are catered to by the media, by those in power and by society itself. The LGBT+ community has to fight for acceptance and love and freedom. We’ve made strides as a community in the last few years, with the legalization of same-sex marriage and the transgender bathroom bill. Pride is a way for us to acknowledge those victories and celebrate them, but also for us to acknowledge how much more we have to go. You don’t know what that’s like because you’ve never had to fight like that to be accepted.
So no, you don’t need a #HeterosexualPrideDay. Go take your partner out on a date. Go to a bar and go out dancing. Go see a romantic-comedy. You can celebrate that way. Leave the fabulous and flamboyant parades, festivals and flag waving to us. We’ll continue to be glamorous and flawless. You can either be a hater or an ally of our community. Either way, we’re still fab.
