Pride is wherever you are
All of us are part of the struggle
I thought of titling this "A long way from WorldPride" to contrast the struggles of displaced LGBTQ+ people in Kenya with the recent celebrations in Washington. But that would miss the real story.
The United States is facing a concerted right-wing effort to erase and disenfranchise minorities in the name of fighting "wokeness," a term used to disrespect the diversity of America's population. The phrase "DEI hires" [referring to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives] is used mockingly to pretend that no person of color or other minority is ever qualified for any job.
Meanwhile, my friend Rosamel, a trans woman who runs a safe house in Nairobi, is the very embodiment of pride under pressure. The two dozen residents of the house include several orphaned children of queer folk. After Rosamel was hospitalized for days due to an injury and tetanus, the children have taken to sleeping next to her and following her around because they are afraid of losing her.
If that is not family, there is none. Those who use the claim that God created two and only two sexes as justification for denying legal protections to gender-non-conforming people need to take off their blinders and see the greater complexity of God's creation.
Whether right-wing culture warriors recognize it or not, God created intersex people and people whose brain chemistry tells them their gender is different from what was assigned at birth.
The phrase "biological males" is routinely used by people on the right in a way that reduces biology to genitalia. Perhaps even more egregiously, many in the news media uncritically accept the right-wing vocabulary.
Thus our struggle continues. We still have work to do to build and honor what many good people of faith call the Beloved Community.
I attended the WorldPride Human Rights Conference in Washington featuring delegates from across the globe. Being surrounded by so many smart, dedicated activists was invigorating despite my suffering from stress and lack of sleep.
The final session at the conference was a conversation with the Congressional Equality Caucus. One of the panelists, Rep. Becca Balint (D) of Vermont, said, regarding right-wing threats to roll back LGBTQ+ progress, that she is a glass-half-full kind of person.
She is right. We could easily sink into despair, given the aggressive attacks on our community. But we must not let the haters rob us of our joy nor deflect us from our purpose.
Before the panel began, I spoke with moderator Eugene Daniels of MSNBC, an openly gay journalist who is president of the White House Correspondents Association. I thanked him for his fearlessness and excellence.
A friend told me that he didn't care to emulate Eugene's fashion-forward style nor his use of nail polish. But my point in praising Eugene is not that all of us should try to be him. We are a diverse people. It is rather his poise and self-confidence that deserve emulation.
Eugene's mother told him when he was younger, "You belong in whatever room you find yourself." Yes.
The threats to LGBTQ+ people around the globe are real and daunting. But we have one another, and the examples set by those who came before us. We also have the wisdom of those children in Nairobi, who needed no one to tell them who loves and cares for them.
I raised money to pay for repairs to the safe house, and for the walking sticks Rosamel required after her injury. The need among these displaced people is always greater than the capacity of the handful of donors. More non-governmental organizations are needed to help those forced to flee their homes and countries because of unscrupulous politicians and clergy who scapegoat them for problems they had no part in causing.
Eugene Daniels was motivated to come out after the Pulse Nightclub murders in 2016. He didn't want to die with no one knowing his true self.
By contrast, Utah state legislator Trevor Lee (R) backs HB 77, a measure to ban pride flags in schools and local government buildings, with an amendment allowing Nazi and Confederate flags for "educational purposes."
We must join forces to beat back the evil nonsense currently proliferating.
To find role models, we have only to look around us and around the world. Rosamel and Eugene did not wait for permission to step up and lead.
To quote a wise ancient man whose teaching is routinely ignored by the hatemongers on the so-called Christian right: "Go thou and do likewise."
Richard J. Rosendall is a writer and activist at [email protected].
Copyright © 2025 by Richard J. Rosendall. All rights reserved.