The hard truth..

The utmost respect for this text!!!

https://x.com/abc123jjj/status/1798161735733645779?t=pIVdaRldIcjPCnk14PFcBw&s=19

I came out 26 years ago - when I was 16 years old - in the 90’s.

Back when there weren’t Pride flags everywhere, there weren’t Pride stickers in the window of every bank, store and restaurant, and they were no Pride crosswalks.

We had a weekend Pride celebration (once a year) that was attended by the actual LGB&T community and others. But we didn’t refer to them as allies - they were just friends and they weren’t there to virtue signal or prove their inclusivity.

They were there because they believed that we deserved the same rights as everyone else, that we weren’t perverts, that a man could love another man, a woman could love another women, and that transsexuals weren’t a threat to others because they were actual transsexuals and they weren’t playing dress up/make believe.

There were no children.

They was no nudity.

And there were no pronoun police.

We fought for our rights and to live our lives quietly amongst the rest of society.

We celebrated.

We laughed.

We hugged.

We loved each other.

And we were thankful to no longer be looked down upon. And as the years passed, we truly attained the same rights as everyone else.

Life had become everything we wanted it to be. We had what everyone else had - and that was enough.

That was back when Pride meant something.

Back before it was hijacked by activists and the alphabet mafia.

Back when children weren’t being put on puberty blockers.

Back when children weren’t being mutilated.

Back when children weren’t being sentenced to life long medicalization.

Back when kids weren’t being asked to make adult decisions or invited into adult conversations/situations.

Back when children weren’t being taught that their sexual orientation or how they identify is the only thing that matters.

Back when child abuse wasn’t celebrated and child abusers weren’t hailed as heroes.

Back when women’s rights mattered.

Back when women had their own safe spaces.

Back when men (pretending to be women) weren’t redefining what it means to be a woman.

Back when asking “what is a woman?” wasn’t a controversial question.

Back when women didn’t have penises.

Back when gay history wasn’t being rewritten.

Back when the LGB&T community was the LGB&T community.

Back when human rights had meaning and they weren’t a list of ridiculous/harmful demands.

Back when straight people - identifying as queer and desperate to fit in somewhere - weren’t destroying everything we fought for.

It was better back then.

I liked it back then.

Call me a bigot.

Call me transphobic.

Call me homophobic.

Call me a right wing extremist.

Call me a RWNJ.

I don’t care.

I’d rather be called those things than engage in what Pride celebrations are today.

Pride has become an abusive charade that no longer represents those who fought for it.

And lastly