Happy Pride, TPM followers!

Last weekend was my town’s PrideFest and parade and despite the cold and rainy weather, it was still a great time!

I’m fortunate that the company I work for places such a large emphasis on the importance of DEI and for the second year in a row, we were PrideFest sponsors! Now, I work for a paint manufacturer and last year as I was doing some routine paint panel work in the Color Lab, I thought to myself….how cool would it be to make paint panels in the different colors of Pride flags!

I turned to my coworker with excitement and not sharing the same enthusiasm said “sure, Kelsey” as she returned her focus to her work. Not wanting to drop the idea, I went to the head of my location, the Divisional President of Paint (yes…that’s his actual title!) To my surprise, he loved the idea and approved our sponsorship of the Fest. While I worried the PrideFest attendees wouldn’t get the hype of a panel made of paint in their respective Pride colors, we were delighted to find that the panels were a HIT!

Fast forward to this year and we’ve doubled the amount of panels. Additionally, I was excited to include the brand new Polyamory pride flag that PolyamProud helped bring to existence earlier this year!

Now for the even more exciting part. This year, we had a large influx of people looking for Polyamory pride merch! One person came up and said “Ok, you have everything but you’re missing one flag…polyamory”, to which I squealed and said “we’ve got you!” as I handed her a panel. Another group who turned out to be a polycule commended our booth for including Polyamory in our Pride panels and noted that they never know whether Polyamory can be included in Pride or not.

To this I say – why do we celebrate Pride in the first place?

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, Asexual (LGBTQIA+ or LGBTQ+) Pride Month is currently celebrated each year in the month of June to honor the 1969 Stonewall Uprising in Manhattan. Prior to 1969, gay relationships were illegal which lead to the persecution, arrest, and public shaming of known and suspected queer individuals. People could even be arrested for wearing clothing of the opposite gender. Suspected gay bars were constantly raided by police, but on one such raid of the Stonewall Inn, the community finally had enough and fought back. What came to be known as “The Stonewall Uprising” was a tipping point for the Gay Liberation Movement in the United States. We celebrate Pride Month to recognize the impact that lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and other queer individuals have had on history locally, nationally, and internationally. It’s a time for those within the LGBTQ+ community to celebrate the freedom to be themselves.¹

We celebrate Pride to remember the oppression that those in the LGBTQ community had to endure. They couldn’t be public about who they loved. They were at risk of legal repercussions if their sexual and romantic preferences were discovered.

I realize that for some, they view polyamory as a lifestyle choice rather than a sexual preference, but some of us, myself included, include polyamory in our sexual orientation. While many on the LGBTQ+ spectrum are free to be public about who they love, most Polyamorous folks still aren’t able to do that. There are many negative stigmas associated with ethical non-monogamy and in some cases, they may still fear legal repercussions. (For example, I have friends who could be at risk of losing their jobs as educators or custody of their children if their polyamory were to be made public.)

So for the folks unsure if Polyamory can be celebrated during Pride month, I say yes!

In the two years my company has been a sponsor of PrideFest, I noticed a definite increase in folks talking about polyamory from last year to this year. I can only hope this means that little by little, polyamory and ENM are becoming more widely accepted.

Happy Pride all!

You are loved and you are valid. No matter who or how you choose to love.

❤️ 🧡 💛 💚 💙 💜

References

1. Library of Congress. (2015). Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer pride month. The Library of Congress. https://www.loc.gov/lgbt-pride-month/about/. ↩