Have you ever felt worried that, if your whole self was exposed, you might not be accepted? That you were doing life wrong? That, no matter how hard you tried, you might not make the people you care about proud of you? Today we’re talking about pride.
By definition, “pride” is a “positive emotional response or attitude to something with an intimate connection to oneself, due to its perceived value.” To us, pride is a core tenet of self-expression, of belonging, of connection, of worth.
June is Pride Month, the lead-in to the parade that we hope will light up your city; and it’s a time to commemorate an international movement that has come so far, and yet is still in its infancy.
On June 28, 1969, on a hot New York City summer night when Pride was born at Greenwich Village’s Stonewall Inn, a hoot of a bar and a haven for the LGBTQ community. Nine policemen entered Stonewall that night, and when they left, they took into custody several patrons and employees under (lawful) grounds like, not wearing “at least three articles of gender-appropriate clothing” and “solicitation of homosexual relations.” The Stonewall Inn was the third bar in a short period of time to be raided on grounds like these, reminding us today that we cannot accept hate simply because it is legal. On that night 52 years ago, 400 people gathered in protest — to no longer allow their city to show and tell them that who they are is shameful…disruptive…illegal. With (badass) transwomen on the front lines, that group created an uprising against harassment and discrimination; against social and political constructs made to keep “other” folks controlled and small. That was the beginning.
There are books and oral histories and documentaries and every kind of media you can imagine that share the details of the many organizations and causes created in the wake of that uprising; of the voices and the leaders emboldened by the happenings at Stonewall.
This post won’t even scratch the surface of that, but it will – we will – talk about pride and full self-expression, and why pride makes us inextricable from one another.
Via ABC News
Everything Campowerment stands for has to do with being proud of yourself for being who you are right now, and being sure we are moving into tomorrow proud of who you are becoming. And equally as important — a huge part of community — is the act of leaving space in your life, in your heart, in your every experience, to witness someone becoming proud of themself, too. To allow for intimate connection to others by holding space for them to perceive their own value.
Every moment we place worth on someone else’s existence is a moment that reinforces (or perhaps shows for the first time) that we believe they matter. It’s a moment we allow for them to develop a supported sense of self-worth that, instead of being an act of rebellion (‘I have to stand up to you and prove that I am worth something’), is an act of commonality (‘we agree: we are both worth something!’). (Isn’t everyone worth something?)
Pride is a natural resource; an expansive one (the more you give it, the more you receive it from yourself).
Pride is regenerative; it’s filled with the potential to change and heal old wounds.
So, we are not here to co-opt a movement that has so much more for us to move through. We are not here to sell you anything. We are not even here to invite you to join a session or an event or a retreat. Instead, today, we are here to remind you that, if you want to change the world, you can make it your business to help every person in your path — especially those who may be doubting it — that they matter and they belong and they are worthy of big things exactly as they are. Remind them that they have something to be proud of.
Happy Pride Month! We are proud to know you and grateful you let us see you for everything you are.