{"id":521,"date":"2021-06-09T12:14:09","date_gmt":"2021-06-09T19:14:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.piercecountywa.gov\/humanservices\/?p=521"},"modified":"2021-06-09T12:14:09","modified_gmt":"2021-06-09T19:14:09","slug":"happy-pride-month","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.piercecountywa.gov\/humanservices\/2021\/06\/09\/happy-pride-month\/","title":{"rendered":"Happy Pride Month!"},"content":{"rendered":"

I love seeing all of the celebratory social media posts recognizing June as Pride Month.\u00a0 I live just around the corner from The Mix, one of Tacoma\u2019s busiest gay bars, and I look forward to the annual Pride festival they host.\u00a0 Like everything else, I\u2019m sure it will be different this year, but hopefully it will still accomplish what I see as it\u2019s main purpose: a celebration of Love.<\/p>\n

I am a straight woman, married to my best friend, Scott, for almost 30 years now.\u00a0 Growing up in Billings, Montana, and leading what I\u2019ve come to realize has been a fairly sheltered (narrow?) life, I\u2019ve had few gay friends or family. I would describe myself as open and tolerant of others, but I also am learning that even I have biases that shape who I befriend, how I engage with others, and what I think.\u00a0 That indicates a lot of work that I have to do as an individual, to be not only aware of my biases, but to go even further to engage with, celebrate, and lift up people who are different from me.\u00a0 I\u2019m a work in progress.\u00a0 What I can say with absolute certainty, though, is that no one should be able to tell me who I can love.\u00a0 Scott\u2019s my person, and has been since we were teenagers in college.\u00a0 I chose him, he chose me, and no one else did (or should ever) have a say in that.\u00a0 Pride is about that\u2026celebrating everyone\u2019s right to love whomever they choose.<\/p>\n

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Pride is also about loving yourself, no matter your gender identity.\u00a0 We\u2019ve come a long way as a society to celebrate our differences, but there are still biases and harmful behavior we need to mitigate.\u00a0 Our LGBTQIA+ youth in particular face lots of bias, so I\u2019m happy to share again this valuable list of resources that Kid\u2019s Mental Health of Pierce County has developed for your reference and use.\u00a0 Please check out and amplify the resources below.<\/p>\n