I’m proud I survived all of that and fought the whole way and come out on top. I’m proud I helped win the right for all people to have employment safe from discrimination, and the right to marry who they like. I’m proud I’ve marched, engaged in civil disobedience, and put myself on the front line to help all of us, and especially my brothers dying from a disease the government wouldn’t even acknowledge, and when they finally did they deliberately denied any money for aid or education to us, the group most effected by it, because they literally wanted us dead. I’m proud that I’ve fought for the rights and protection of myself and others. I’m proud I made it past the discrimination, hatred, and government oppression and still managed to thrive.
I’m proud I survived growing up and coming out in a time when being gay was still illegal in many parts of the country, there were virtually no legal protections for gay people, and HIV was devastating the gay landscape. While I agree with what most others are saying, pride is the opposite of shame, so in this case pride is a way of saying we don’t feel shame for existing.
