My First Pride as an Out and Proud Trans Man!

CREATIVE NON-FICTION

I hadn’t intended to go to Pride this year

As I explained in this article, my wife and I hid all our rainbow flags to help sell our house so we could move 1,719 miles to a part of the country where we hope to feel safer as a transgender couple.

Then, violent threats (or “feedback”, according to a local mayor) from right-wing extremists led the Apex Festival Commission to cancel the Drag Queen Story Hour at Apex Pride in North Carolina. The local LGBTQIA+ communities were not happy about this development. We collectively shared our own feedback, which the mayor labeled “hate speech.”

It seems the mayor didn’t like the word “bigot.”

Long story short, after the cancellation received national news coverage, the Apex Festival Commission ended their involvement. Equality NC stepped up, took over sponsorship for Apex Pride, and reinstated the Drag Queen Story Hour for children.

Though we hadn’t planned to attend this Saturday event, we wanted to celebrate a big win for our local LGBTQIA+ communities. This wasn’t just a Pride event. It was an opportunity to show that we were proud of our people and those who support us for standing up for all of us.

This was by far the most fun I’ve ever had at a Pride event! We watched the drag queens (and drag king!) dance and lip sync to popular songs. For anyone concerned about the sexual nature of this show, most of the drag queens were dressed more conservatively than the average cis woman going to Sunday church. The remaining one was dressed more conservatively than your average Disney princess and was just as beautiful.

Related posts:

All The Pieces That Make Me One, a Medium series by Miya Moné