Feeling Prideful

     In the past few days at work, I've been asked not once, but twice by my co-workers whether I would be going to the Pride Festival this Sunday. I reluctantly said that I wouldn't. My reason was that I would be working that night and I didn't feel like being out in the heat, taking the bus and train downtown to Halsted where they always have the parade, and rushing all the way downtown to get to work that afternoon. Reflecting on my co-workers asking me about pride, I realized just how far we've come as gay people have progressed towards equality in society.
     When I was taking a few steps coming out the closet, being gay and going to gay pride would almost feel like a secret that only a few knew about. Like every other gay person before they came out, I was afraid to let people know of this secret. Now, it's not that big of a secret anymore. Everyone knows and they seem to be ok with it. We have came far. Over the years, we have marched on to combat ignorance and hate. The world is starting to accept us.
     I see us in media. We have shows like RuPaul's Drag Race and Ellen that shows we can do things. We have characters in books and TV that represent us in all different spectrum and tell our stories. We even have our own channel, LOGO. I see us in music. Not only do we have gay rappers like Fly Young Red and Le1f to name a few, but we have people in Hip Hop like Kanye West and T-Pain, another genre that didn't accept us, that have spoken against the homophobia in the genre.
     We are in sports. In the past year, we have professional athlete like Darren Young, Michael Sam, Derreck Gordon, Jason Collins, and Tom Daley who have come out. Bravely dispelling the stigma that Sports is no place for us since we are not "manly enough" and have been given mostly support and love from fans and their peers alike. We have President Obama who seems to be the first president to not only acknowledged us, but gas been on our side. We have passed gay marriage in a total number of 19 states, including one where I live in, Illinois. We have come so far, but we have more to do and more to go.