It Was a "No Hate" Pride23

Like most years, I attended the New York City Pride festivities this past weekend. At first I was a bit worried about it and actually said to my husband that perhaps we should skip it this year. “Is it going to be safe,” I asked him. To which he replied, “Don’t let them win.” That was enough motivation for me to put on a little Pride wear and hit the city.

As I have said before, I have to say again that it all felt so different this year. So different. There always seems to be a theme or two that prevails, as exhibited in the home-made signs, the stickers, and the t-shirts. Prior years we’ve seen “Love is Love” emerge or “Marriage Equality” or “My Bedroom My Business” or “Human Rights.” Kind of on the positive side of the messaging.

This year, however, it was all about hate. No hate. Not giving in to hate. Getting rid of hate. Hate.

It put a very different spin on the day and the month for that matter. It was more about the fight then about the celebration. It was about “not letting them win.” Not giving in to hate. Not letting hate make us any less than.

It was a bit negative, if I’m going to be honest and it felt like we’ve gone backwards by a decade or two. And while we were celebrating, don’t get me wrong, we were also talking about not allowing us to go backwards. Fighting the hate. No hate.

Oh and fight we will. Until there is no hate.

What’s your experience? JIM