“Exhausting” is an understatement for how I have to exist in the world. Everywhere I go, there are people who blatantly express their contempt for my existence and people who do it under a guise. A mantra I stick to is “honor my joy.”

I often say the most radical thing we can be, in a society that does everything in its power to make us feel lesser, is happy. I show my Pride through doing this. It’s my way of saying, “you can hate me and my chosen family all you want, but you have no power over our joy. We are here, and we will celebrate ourselves, regardless of your hate.”

It’s a sort of beautiful defiance powered by self-love. My Pride grows stronger every day because of this; my community faces fight after fight but refuses to lose what makes us, us. Pure love, pure joy.