And damn, it is rough out there.  Which is why Pride is important.

And between that fucking fascist DeShithead and his ilk trying to make us disappear by criminalizing folks existence, and some seriously trash rainbow capitalism out there, it’s a bit disheartening.

Had to go to Target today (not happily, it was the only option) and my local store still has its pride display up front, but I don’t know if they took out the good stuff or it was always just a bunch of ugly assed shit.  Not sure what was more embarrassing, that collection or the fact that they caved to the RWNJs over it

Don’t get me wrong, I love watching the right lose their shit when brands and sports teams and whatnot acknowledge that LGBTQIA+ folks just, ya know, exist.

And I know some are sincere!  I genuinely appreciated my San Diego Padres telling homophobes to get bent in years past.

But for too many, it’s just a box to check.  Hell, even my own company makes it fucking hard to believe they give a shit when they keep having conferences in red states.

But worse are these legislatures engaging in genocide.  They want everyone back in hiding and for younger generations to not have anyone they can connect with in the queer community.  And all you’re gonna end up with is kids that are still gay, trans, queer, non-conforming – they’ll just be sad and alone and some will end their lives over it.  Because a dead kid is somehow better than a queer kid.

And those connections for the younger generations to the larger community are so damn important.  Even my old ass knows that, even if I still don’t know where I fit in the queeriverse (it is so a word.)

I’m bisexual.  (Maybe to the exclusion of men altogether? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯)  It took me so damn long to figure it out in the first place, and even then, I didn’t have anyone to talk to about it, no particularly queer friendly spaces around, etc, etc – it makes it hard.

I wouldn’t say that Fairfax County is LGBTQIA+ hostile, but at best I’d describe it as indifferent – and that is harmful in its own way. Like, when I got my car and put my Crouton pride sticker on it, I had zero idea if that was a safe thing to do in my neighborhood. Did it anyway, cause fuck the haters, but yeah, I was nervous about it.

But now isn’t the time to hang back. Gonna be out and about tomorrow and gonna wear my Starbucks Workers United pride shirt – cause we are also very pro union here, and I don’t have a lot of queer coded gear. And I’m absolutely gonna be looking to fix that gear problem tomorrow at the arts festival.

It’s not much, but I can at least say, “I’M HERE YOU FUCKERS.”

Happy Pride.