Photo credit by Jasmin Sessler.
When gay pride month comes around in June, I take it with a polite grain of salt. I am proud to be a gay man. But then again, I’m also proud to be a gay man for the remaining 11 months of the year. What makes these 30 days so special?
I’ve enjoyed gay pride parades. I’ve worshipped at the altar of the great RuPaul. I’ve basked in the big, bright colors of the rainbow flag. Still, I felt no ardent affinity for the booming gay pride pronouncement.
Until 2021. This June, this Gay Pride Month, this soul-revealing year is completely different. Maybe I wasn’t paying that much attention before, but it seems like Gay Pride 2021 is bolder and braver, wider and wiser than any other in the past. Everywhere I turn I see signs of gay pride. I see acknowledgement and celebration from the obvious and the not so obvious. I see and sense a spirit of inclusion and recognition aimed at all things LGBTQ that seemed absent before.
I recently saw a social media ad for Cracker Barrel featuring a picture of the homestyle cooking restaurant’s trademark front porch rocking chairs painted in the rainbow colors of the gay pride flag. The message accompanying the image was one of togetherness, of inclusion, of everybody is part of the family. Let me tell you, even if that’s a marvelously crafted marketing campaign and nothing more, I’m still stunned. This is Cracker Barrel, people. It doesn’t get more country conservative than Cracker Barrel.
Sign of the times? I hope so. Hope is the operative word here. Hope is the word for 2021. After the tumultuous last four years, which culminated in a deadly virus that locked down life as we knew it, hope has certainly sprung eternal. How fitting then that Gay Pride 2021 is riding the wave of spring into the ocean of summer. The moment, this moment, is significant.
Significant moments, at least for me, always prompt reflection. I’m 55 years old, married to the man I’ve spent 32 years of life with, and extremely happy with the progression of my professional career and my personal livelihood. But I never forget where I came from.
I was bullied in grade school because I was gay, although back then I didn’t have a clue. It wasn’t until I was in college that a series of personal events led me to pause, question, and then eventually accept. In my past life as a journalist, I made sure to strike a careful balance between out and loud and in and mute. My closet door never flung open, it steadily crept ajar until the sun blazed my path.
Today, I hide nothing. But by the same token, I’ve never been the type to grab the bullhorn and announce my gay presence. I treat it as just a matter-of-fact reality of daily life. I talk about my husband casually and unflinchingly. I love serving as a mentor for young gays just peeking out into the beautiful, multi-colored world. I may even occasionally let go a flamboyant Z-snap that would earn Ru’s approval.
Most importantly, I’m proud. I’m proud to be a Cuban American gay man. I’m proud to be a content marketer. I’m proud to be a writer. I’m proud to be me. And this gay pride month, I’m prouder than ever.
Mario's Musings 
Your observation that Gay Pride seems to be everywhere is valid. But the cynic in me thinks a lot of it is the typical over-commercialization of anything that will sell., even if the seller personally doesn’t like it – it’s the money that counts. (Why else did the bathroom bill fail? The opponents didn’t suddenly change their minds about boys dressing as girls just to leer at girls in the bathroom. They were cowed by the thought of losing all those conventions.)
On the other hand, much of it could also be that more people are comfortable with being an open ally, speaking up for something they believe is right and good without fear of criticism or losing clients or friends.
It’s wonderful that major corporations and small businesses are supporting the gay community now, and the more exposure you have, the faster the stubborn ones will come to accept you. Look what happened with integration. I lived in Atlanta in the ’60s and saw how as white people got used to seeing Black people in the front of buses, in restaurants, in their classrooms, in all the places they previously could not mingle with whites, they began to accept it despite their strong objections. There’s still a long way to go, but things have changed a lot too.
You should always be able to be proud of what you are, of all you are. I hate that it hasn’t always been that way, but the important thing is that being gay is accepted as normal by a majority of people now, and by the time you’re in your 70s, young gay people of the time are likely to shake their heads when they read about Stonewall and say they can’t believe it used to be that way.
Happy Pride, Mario! ❤️❤️❤️
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Sometimes change and growth is slow, but we rejoice when it arrives. Society is changing and in many ways for the better. This is one of them. Even if from a corporate standpoint it’s all marketing, I choose to call that a win. There was a time when even money couldn’t convince many. So again, some progress. Always love your insight. Keep them coming.
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And I’m very proud of you. Over the years you have shared some of your life stories with me and I admire the way you face and then tackle things that happen. You have grown into a strong, loving and loyal man and I’m glad we are family. Much love – Betty
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And I’m very proud of you. Over the years you have shared some of your life stories with me and I admire the way you face and then tackle things that happen. You have grown into a strong, loving and loyal man and I’m glad we are family. Much love
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Thank you, Betty, for your compassion and your humanity. Proud you are part of my family.
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