Have you ever taken a moment to ask yourself what you wish you could have learned as a kid growing up? Probably not, because if you are anything like me, you spent most of your time in school (public or private), wishing to be anywhere else. To be free from the confines of a classroom wall, the school hallways, and the social torture of trying to just get through torturous times like middle and/or high school. We spend time in school wishing time would speed up, and as a result, may not really think about the groundwork being laid down for the rest of our lives while in class. Admittedly, I wish I had done better or at the very least, cared more, about education growing up. I say this as someone who works in college admissions, who has an advanced degree, and graduated high school with approximately a C average.

For me, reflecting on high school does nothing but remind me of times I would rather forget. It is not all that similar from how I feel about things that have changed in the past year (i.e. everything) under this new administration. The overly privileged, cisgender straight men leading our country cause us almost a new headache every day, a new possible nightmare. They aim to suppress the voices of millions, the rights of millions, and fail to protect us all, whether some like to admit it. Staring into a mirror, I see exactly the person I just described-white, privileged, and cisgender. But what you cannot see on the surface, or at least in my opinion, is my equality in this society stripped away from me. Identifying as gay, for me, has been a roller coast of emotions, but a good one for the past two years or so of my life. Enter in Donald Trump and his administration made up of money, privilege, and men who are supposed to represent an entire country founded my immigrants. They fail to represent the men and women of color, the LGBT community, those of differing religions, those who everything categorically defined as different. You know what does not fail to represent me, as a mid-20 something in the LGBT community? Pride. The history that I knew nothing about until I took power in my own hands and a Google search to learn more about an entire community of people that came before me.

Pride, at its very core, began as a protest. As far as a single event goes, it did not invent the idea of resisting or protesting for equal rights, but it is arguably one of the largest events in a movement for gay liberation in the United States of America. It was a direct result of riots at the Stonewall Inn, commonly debated as being sparked by drag queens and transgender women of color, but depicted by movie trailers as having been started by a white boy from Kansas. Historically, we should credit the Stonewall Riots as having been started by a crowd of people, and a spark in what became a series of protests. I do not recall a single history lesson in school that taught me about the Stonewall Riots, or Sylvia Rivera and/or Marsha Johnson, trans women of color who founded Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries. I did not know for a long time that HIV/AIDS was considered a gay disease, and that heterosexual men/women often blamed us for a disease that has stolen the souls of many brothers/sisters within the community, both the LGBT community and those identifying as straight. A loss of any life to HIV/AIDS, is a loss too many. You know what taught me that these events existed? That there were specific men/women important to the fights, the battles, the wars that LGBT generations before me fought? The arts. Film and television, and other forms of media, taught me these things even existed, igniting in me a spark to know more. To understand more.

I don’t know everything there is to know about the Stonewall Riots, about HIV/AIDS and its history in America (other than the chapter of Prep is currently being written in its history). But what is abundantly clear to me, without fail, is that pride began as a protest, and that it must continue as a protest. Same sex marriage was only legalized in 2015, and President Barack Obama was the first President ever to come out in favor of same-sex marriage. We seemingly have regressed since then, as Vice President Mike Pence is one of the largest anti-LGBT names out there today. For those who do not believe me, you can read this entire article here. Clearly, Pence is not an ally of the LGBT community. Various members of the GOP are anti LGBT as well, and would love nothing more to strip the LGBT community of the rights they have only had for less than two years. Familiarize yourself with the viewpoints of not just Pence, but people like Jeff Sessions and Betsy DeVos, both with strongly anti-LGBT platforms (and DeVos is the Secretary of Education, so we are all screwed with that woman). As we all lace up heels, dresses, wigs, purses, and perhaps even romphims for upcoming pride festivities this upcoming month of June, take a moment to remember those who fought at Stonewall, who ignited various other riots and protests for equality as we march in parades, dance on dance floors, and spend time with the ones we love. Pride began as a protest, and today, it continues on as one.