One of the best TV Shows to come out in recent history was “Ted Lasso” on Apple TV. 3 seasons of some of the most gut-wrenching, heart-string-pulling, tear-inducing TV I’ve ever watched. So many topics were hit on from dealing with divorce, loss, racism, and in season 3, homophobia and dealing with exclusion.

Colin, one of the soccer players (or football/futbol/IT’S SOCCER!) for Ted Lasso’s team, is secretly gay and has been hiding it his whole life from his friends, family, and team. When a local reporter, Trent Crimm, sees him at a gay bar, Colin gets very nervous his secret is going to get out. But, Trent convinces him there is no need to hide who you are. So, he reveals his sexuality to the team, although he fears rejection and hate. Below, you can see the reaction from Ted and the team.

Ted’s friend Stevie had to go it alone. He punished himself, causing $9,000 in damages to his toilet. We can only imagine how hard it was for him to sit there alone and try to be happy and enjoy the experience if his team in the Super Bowl. No one was there for him, win or lose. Sometimes, it is hard to find other Denver Broncos fans to confide in, and fans of the other 31 teams will only ridicule you if you root for your team openly. This is the feeling that members of the LGBTQ+ community face every day.

It might not be the perfect example, but I think most of us understand the point. The LGBTQ+ community feels as if they are alone in their battle for inclusion and want to be treated like normal members of society. This is not a new battle by any means. Pride Month and public celebrations of Pride started back in 1969 during an event we refer to as the “Riot of the Stonewall Inn”.

The History

Back then, there were laws against “cross-dressing” or anything that would suggest a man or a woman would be posing as the opposite sex. The police would raid bars or other establishments consistently and arrest transgender and gender non-conforming individuals. On January 28, 1969 the police raided the Stonewall Inn in New York City and for the first time, the individuals fought back.

The details from that riot are blurry, but you can watch the short documentary “The Stonewall You Know is a Myth. And That’s OK.” to hear all the different perspectives on that night from people who were actually there. The purpose of me bringing this up though, is this was the beginning of the pushback on these outrageous laws that took away the freedoms of the LGBTQ+ community.

On November 2, 1969, Craig Rodwell and a few other Pride leaders proposed the first Pride march to be held in New York City. This would be held as an annual reminder, in order to be more relevant, reach a greater number of people, and encompass the ideas and ideals of the larger struggle in which we are engaged-that of our fundamental human rights-be moved both in time and location. They proposed that this march be held on the last Saturday of the month of June, and these marches be held all over the country.

The first march was held on June 28, 1970, marking the first anniversary of the Stonewall Riots with the march, which was the first Gay Pride march in New York history and covered 51 blocks to Central Park.

Fast forward to 1999, the Bill Clinton was the first U.S. President to declare June “Gay & Lesbian Pride Month”. Then, Barack Obama, Donald Trump, and Joe Biden, all made statements declaring June LGBTQ+ Pride Month.

Present Pride

In today’s society, we see much more inclusion and acceptance when it comes to the LGBTQ+ community. Companies change their logos to reflect the Pride Flags’ rainbow colors, cities, and towns all over the country announce the beginning of Pride Month and make official statements and members of the community come out and support marches and festivals held in honor of the recognition of the LGBTQ+ community.

Yeah, I took that picture! I’m pretty proud of my photography skills!

It was so cool to see the community come out and be a part of our local Jamestown, NY Pride celebration with vendors, food, music, games, and some great drag performers! These kinds of events and festivals are happening all over the country these days. Some people question why they are held.

Why do we still spend a whole month celebrating people just based on sexualtity?

I think the best example I can come up with is, why do we celebrate the 4th of July? It’s been almost 250 years since we gained our independence as a country. No need to go and shoot fireworks and have celebrations, right? Well, obviously I’d be told to shut up, because, ‘Merica.

Don’t you see the irony though? Our ancestors struggled and fought a global superpower for this country. They beat unfathomable odds to not just become another British colony. So, we celebrate those who fought and died to give us our freedoms in our country. The same as we celebrate the LGBTQ+ leaders who started riots, fought off police brutality, and died just because of their sexuality, to give the LGBTQ+ community the rights they have today. To come out and be who they are without fear of prosecution.

As a couch-loving millennial, I was scrolling TikTok on a Friday night. I came across a video of a younger lesbian couple who were participating in their local, small-town pride parade. In the video, she stated that she was still hiding her sexuality from her friends and family since she was from a small town and those kinds of beliefs were not widely accepted there. But, that Pride march and the festival that was held there helped her come out with her fellow LGBTQ+ community members and finally feel like she could openly join her town as herself. That day was the day she needed to finally come out and be herself! How beautiful is that? That is why these parades and festivals happen. Because you don’t know that there is somewhere there who finally feels comfortable in their own skin, surrounded by members of their community, celebrating who they are instead of being harassed.

(I took this picture too by the way.)

Unfortunately, we still have a lot of work to do. You can go to any comment section of a sports team showing their support of the LGBTQ+ community and it will be full of people calling it “woke” or showing off their homophobia saying they will no longer support that team, not buy a product, or even make threats of violence. These are the things that the LGBTQ+ community sees on a daily basis that make them fearful to come out and be vocal about their sexuality.

It’s Time To Be Better

Nothing I will say will be any different than what leaders in the LGBTQ+ community have already stated. All anyone wants is to be heard. To feel seen. To be comfortable in their own skin. Straight people don’t have anyone looking at them going “Oh my gosh, you as a male are dating a female? Dude, that’s disgusting, I’m going to harass/beat you up! Get out of my town!”.

Pretend for a moment that YOU were in that situation. Sit with yourself and meditate on the world where straight people were thrown in jail for dating the opposite sex. You had to hide away and not tell a soul that you liked the opposite sex. Simply for the way you were born, and who you were attracted to was unacceptable and it could get you killed for trying to date or marry someone of the opposite sex. Sounds crazy, doesn’t it?

I want to wrap this up with another Ted Lasso clip (I told you, it’s the best show ever). The next time you want to “cancel” a company for trying to be inclusive, you want to harass a member of the LGBTQ+ community for posting them kissing their partner on social media, or just feel confused about why we celebrate Pride Month, think of this clip. Be curious, not judgemental.

Article by Dylan Moran, My CHQ. June 6, 2024.