June is LGBTQ+ Pride Month, so cities across the country (and world) are having celebrations, parades, and festivals to promote LGBTQ+ equality and acceptance. Last weekend, I had the opportunity to attend the Capital Pride Parade and Festival in Washington, D.C. It was my first time attending an event like this. I decided to go to show support for the my friends who are LGBTQ+.

On June 11, I attended the Capital Pride Parade with one of my good friends. We went to see two of our other friends, who walked in the parade with a suicide awareness group. I had no idea what to expect. Before I left my house to go downtown, my parents told me to be wary of protestors.

I arrived downtown at the parade, and I only saw one protestor (Granted, the parade route was pretty long and I couldn't see much past the block I was on). This person held a sign that said "LGBT=HELL. THE BLOOD OF JESUS CAN WASH YOU CLEAN. YOU CAN BE HOMO NOMO." I was not on the same side of the street as this person, but from what I could tell they were not being too disruptive. After a little while, they left, as their "message" was clearly not getting through to anyone in the crowd. I thought to myself, wow, there is hardly any opposition here. This is certainly a step in the right direction.

In fact, a lot of steps in the right direction were taken during that parade. So many different people and groups watched and took part in the parade. A number of religious groups, ranging from Jewish to Presbyterian, took part in the parade. Historically, many (if not all) religious groups have been blatantly opposed to homosexuality and same sex marriages. Seeing the support these religious groups had for these people inspired me, and proved that change is possible, and acceptance is not a far off goal. I left that night feeling inspired. I had never been in such a big, diverse, accepting, loving, and positive group of people. At that moment, it seemed like the LGBTQ+ community was being almost completely accepted by the rest of the world, at least from my somewhat of an outside perspective.

The next morning, June 12, I awoke to some terrible news. There had been a shooting at Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida. Gun violence is always terrible, but this tragedy is just downright deplorable. With fifty people dead and over fifty more injured, it is the deadliest mass shooting in United States history. There is only one way to describe an event like this: an act of terrorism. Terrorism can be defined as an act of violence committed by one group on another. In this case, the LGBTQ+ community was the target of violence. While people have been arguing over whether the man who committed this heinous crime is connected to ISIS, I don't think that is the most important thing here. What matters is that there are any people that are insane enough to do something like this. The fact that someone would injure and kill so many people because of their sexual orientation is absolutely appalling to me. I cannot even begin to imagine how the friends and family of these victims feel. I cannot even imagine what it is like to be a member of the LGBTQ+ community and to have to worry about getting killed because of your sexual orientation.

When I went to the Capital Pride Festival later that day, there was a noticeably increased police presence, obviously to keep everyone safe in hopes that no radical person one got ideas from the Orlando tragedy. While people still seemed to be having a good time, the performers on stage kept bringing up the Orlando tragedy. It was a message of sadness, but also perseverance, as hundreds of people had still gathered in light of what had happened in Orlando.

From this weekend, I learned that not everyone is as accepting as the people who chose to take part in the Capital Pride Festival. Although many strides towards equality have been made in the past, there is still a long way to go. I cannot imagine what any of the survivors, friends and family of the victims, or the LGBT+ community is going through right now, and I am not going to pretend I know. I cannot fathom how terrifying that incident is for the LGBTQ+ community. It is beyond me why people prefer to propagate violence rather than love and peace.

So, I guess what I took away from this weekend is that love is love, and love will always triumph over hate.