To Hide: Once Pride Month Is Over, Then What? Do We Hide?

June, aka Pride Month, was a great month for those of us in the LGBTQIA2S+ community and our allies. It was a time for us to shine. To be present. To be out. To be proud. To be open and honest with ourselves and others about who we are, and the good creation we are, created in the image of God. I tried to post positive, uplifting stories on this blogpost for the entire month, even when things were sliding sideways, in terms of the news of the day, which included more "Don't Say Gay" bills in various Republican state legislatures, along with more bills directed at banning transgender athletes, male to female, from participating in athletic events. There was the conspiracy to derail the Coeur d'Alene, ID Pride events by far-right extremists, while Proud Boys descended upon libraries in which drag queens were reading children's stories Nevertheless, Portland and Seattle had their large gatherings and parades, while smaller venues had barbecues, lunches, and brunches in neighborhood parks. HBO Max and Netflix, along with PBS/OPB and Hulu, streamed LGBTQIA2S+ themed television shows and movies. 

Now it is July. We are no longer being celebrated in the way we were in June. What's different? Well, this opinion piece by John Paul Brammer in the Washingtonpost.com seemed to capture it well: "As a Gay Kid, I Felt the Instinct to Hide. I Feel It Again Now" (July 11, 2022). He wrote, "I wasn't too young, at age 6, to hear that 'queers deserve a bullet between the eyes,' nor too young, at 7, to be called a 'faggot' by my classmates, despite not knowing what the word meant... Before I was allowed to be a kid, before I had the chance to figure myself out, I was given an all-consuming directive, spoken and unspoken: Hide."

Brammer talks about the cultural regression we are going through currently, a savage backlash, which I've written about before, from the likes of Florida's Governor DeSantis to Texas Governor Greg Abbott, and their state legislatures, creating a hostile environment for LGBTQIA2S+ adults and children alike. Brammer points out that the instinct to hide and live in fear has re-surfaced in his life of late.

Brammer continues: "No amount of intellectualizing prepared me for the emotional toll of watching such a cultural regression. A knot in my stomach takes me back to my childhood, because I know kids will be the people most hurt by this cynical fear campaign that purports to protect them... Kids are hurt every day by their parents and their churches, by their teachers and their classmates, by the frightening, dangerous world they have inherited. What won't hurt kids is encountering an adult saying it's OK to be different, or, God forbid, a glammed-up queen reading "The Very Hungry Caterpillar"... Moral panics feed on illogic. What I do hope is that no one who considers themselves an ally stays silent, but instead speaks up against this creeping hate. So many of us feel the old instinct to make ourselves, invisible; tell us we don't have to. Silence, I know from personal experience, is where kids go to hide, and sometimes never come out again."

Here's a link to washingtonpost.com: http://washingtonpost.com.

This is where communities of faith are called to provide sanctuary for LGBTQIA2S+ people of all ages. Our allies need to step up to this moment and be courageous in the face of this cultural regression. Today. Now.

May it be so.