By Savannah Smith
With each passing Pride month, it becomes more clear to me the hard work that our community needs to do to. This year’s Pride seems even more precious because of how boldly our president and his administration is trying to erase us. So it is more important than ever to announce our presence as LGBTQIA+ individuals. We are here. We matter.
But in doing so, we must remember whose voices we need to work to lift up. This pride, we need to work on centering accessibility for queer and trans people with disabilities, trans women of color, and not just the violence that they experience every single day in this country, but also recognizing their contributions to our community, and making pride a space that is safe and open to them. You can start by not assuming anyone’s pronouns!
Accessibility at Pride is not a “plus” as it is often made out to seem, it is a requirement. We need to start making sure every venue, parade, club, coffee shop, and wherever else we hold our pride events, are accessible to people of all varying levels of mobility. Here’s an article on how to start making sure your venue is accessible.
The work our community needs to do to make sure everyone is welcome will never end. We should always be working to make Pride a place where everyone feels welcome. So this year do some research (like I did) on ways that you can make others feel more comfortable at your local Pride events.