You might have heard that June is Pride Month! But what does that mean? What’s it all about, how did it start and how can you help celebrate and support the LGBTQIA+ community?!

The month of June was selected as Pride Month to highlight and commemorate the stonewall riots in 1969, which is widely considered to be the most important event leading up to the gay pride/liberation movement.

Today Pride celebrations include parades, parties, educational workshops, as well as art exhibits, concerts and shows.

First and foremost, it is a month of remembrance

For the people that have paved the way and led the fight against homophobia and inequality. Secondly, and just as important, pride month is a time for the LGBTQIA+ community to celebrate not only their individuality, their differences and uniqueness but also their influence on the world at large. All around the world pride month means many different things to many different people and is celebrated in many different ways. Most notably in New York, the Pride Parade is one of the largest gatherings to take place annually and attracts roughly around 500,000 people each year!

It’s important to remember

that although we have an internationally recognised month to celebrate the pride of the LGBTQIA+ community, this month also serves as a reminder of the injustices, inequality, and prejudices that are imposed on the LGBTQIA+ community both locally and worldwide.

It’s a reminder that we can and should do more to ensure we live in a world that welcomes and celebrates everyone.

It’s a reminder that when we see injustices and prejudices, we all have a voice and we need to use it to speak out for those who may not be able to speak out for themselves and join our voice to the chorus already being sung in the pride community.

It’s a reminder

that we can use our political and social privileges to support and strengthen the LGBT community now and into the future. We are all human and we are all looking for our place the universe, and we should do it together!

The following links are some great resources if you are looking for more information:

• https://auspath.org/about/
• https://www.saraa.org.au/
• https://pridefoundation.org.au/
• http://gayprideaustralia.com.au/
• http://australianpridenetwork.com.au/
• http://docdir.com.au/
• https://www.shinesa.org.au/

Disclaimer:

I feel it’s important to tell you that I am a 'mostly straight' cis male and I consider myself a supporter of the LGBTQI+ community pride movement. I write this article as a way of contributing toward the awareness and elimination of inequality and injustice in society shown towards people in the LGBTQI+ community, and in the hopes that one day soon we will all have the same rights, dignity and opportunities to live in this world of ours self-affirmed and free from shame, discrimination, violence and bias! I thought it important to write this disclaimer so that readers could understand that this is a topic that all voices can be in support of and that supporting the LGBTQI+ community is something anyone can participate in.