June is PRIDE month 🌈 ❤️
I’m not great at remembering things like International Day of…(there seems to be so many!), or being on theme in my social media with trending #hashtags, I wish I was better at that.
But I am aware that June is PRIDE month! Pride is for celebrating and making queer love visible and naming the pain and the barriers to that love that still exist.
And there is a particular pain for people who, in our society built around male / female sexuality and gender roles assigned to these, recognise at some point in their lives that their reality is different.
The area where I work, Sydney’s Inner West on Gadigal land, is home to a wonderful population of queer people and so I have a wonderful population of queer clients. I also see people online from across Australia and New Zealand who identify as being somewhere on the LGBTQIA+ continuum and have been through the deep grief of religious trauma. I have queer teens and young people in my life whom I adore and would fight a bear for.
So as a straight, cis-gender woman, I have the privilege of carrying many, many stories of coming out, facing rejection and being cut off, living with heightened anxiety, feeling invisible and correcting people constantly, oh, no actually my partner is a woman, or actually my pronouns are they/them. Making themselves small.
My friend Sam has just released a workbook on Queerness and Spirituality and has written her story. You’ll also find her podcasts (she has TWO!) on her website and Instagram, with lots of lovely queer interviews. Another Australian voice, Steph Lentz wrote her memoir that was published last year called In/Out. It’s her story of losing her job when she came out and almost her sanity, but finding herself.
Queer Eye is one of my favourite shows on Netflix when I need something light and heartwarming. What gracious people they are. How fabulous and well dressed! I love their joy and the way they see people.
As I’ve been writing this I’ve been giggling at the scene in White Lotus where Jennifer Coolidge’s character calls for help and says, these gays are trying to kill me! And what fabulous gays they were.
It’s all great storytelling which is really how we learn and relate to others who are different to us.
Our stories matter. Our language matters. Our advocacy matters. And, because you know I work in this space, we must choose people over theology and dogma every time. The stakes are too high.
Happy Pride. I’m so Proud to call so many LGBTQIA+ people friends, colleagues and clients.
If you’d like to make a counselling appointment in-person in Marrickville or online (Telehealth), you can book in here.
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