In 2018, we invited everyone to #JUSTBE. This was a call for people of all walks of life to embrace Pride in their most authentic and original ways possible. It was all about celebrating each and every person that makes up the diverse, beautiful, and ever-evolving LGBTQ+ community. Our goal was to make Pride a deeply personal experience.
Celebrating Pride in our own unique and individuals ways, however, doesn’t necessarily mean we can forget about our community as a whole. We are the LGBTQ+ community after all. We are — and always should be — each other’s greatest allies. We are joined together by common bonds, common causes, common challenges, common hopes, and common dreams. We are united in the enduring fight for justice and equality for all — regardless of our place on the LGBTQ+ spectrum, regardless of the color of our skin, regardless of who we love, regardless of the higher beings we worship, regardless of our different abilities and talents, regardless of the money we make, regardless of what we believe. We strive, day in and day out, for a brighter and happier future for our community.
But sometimes it’s easy to forget that we are all united in this cause. It’s easy to forget that, in spite of our different struggles and obstacles to overcome, we are all essentially working towards the same goals. And it’s easy to forget that our celebration of Pride is really a true celebration of each other.
Therefore, as we gear up for an amazing 2019 Pride season ahead, we’re asking you all to #JUSTUNITE.
It’s time to set aside our differences and celebrate what truly unites us. It’s time to stop working against each other and, instead, start working with each other to make our community stronger and more resilient than ever before. It’s time to leave aggressions from the past behind and focus in the here and now on building a future for all, together. It’s time to remember what our community’s pioneers did to get us where we are today — and to use that as the fuel that inspires, motivates, drives, and excites us to do even more. And it’s time to do this all as a united community.
Pride will always be a personal celebration of free-expression. Nothing will ever change that. However, why not channel all of that individual energy to build up our community even more? Being together. Celebrating one another. Supporting each other. That’s what Pride is all about.
There’s no better time than now to #JUSTUNITE.
The City of West Hollywood’s One City One Pride LGBTQ Arts Festival celebrates the LGBTQ community through arts in 2019 with the festival theme “Love is Love.” One City One Pride consists of art events and exhibits — mostly free! — between May 22 through June 30 (Harvey Milk Day through the end of June Pride month).
Website https://www.lapride.org