Why Pride Gives Me Hope
Posted by MarCom2324 on Jun. 10, 2023 / Blog / Subscribe 0
June. Pride month. It happens once a year, but Pride never actually ends. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, I’m a one-person pride parade everywhere I go. Honestly, I can’t help myself! I do this by just showing up, by being, by taking up space. You see, pride doesn’t take effort and most of us find pride in our day-to-day but never acknowledge it as pride.
Growing up in a Catholic home as a brown, queer kid in rural Maine, pride was a dirty word and certainly not something you would advertise. Modesty and humility were what we were taught to aspire to. Trying to fit in and being like everyone else was the directive. Don’t draw attention to yourself. Don’t cause a scene. Keep to yourself. Don’t act like that. Don’t talk like that. Don’t sound like that. Follow the rules. Man up. Get over it. These are all things I heard as a child and unfortunately, these mentalities still permeate our classrooms, playgrounds, and community centers today. Despite this, I do still have hope.
Diversity Heritage Months have been a means for us to acknowledge and celebrate our differences. Be it Pride Month, Women’s History Month, Black History Month, Asian-American Pacific Islander Heritage Month, etc., these celebratory months are meant to bring awareness and educate. They are meant for people to share their history, their culture, and their stories with others. Once we start listening, we quickly learn that we have so much more in common with each other. (Or you did the thing where you proved to yourself that you can still learn!) It’s not a bad thing to be proud. And we should be proud of our culture, our history, and our accomplishments.
Pride in 2023 means so much more to me than it did when I was out celebrating at Pride events. Although the parades and festivals were never really my things, after attending many, I finally understand the importance and power of having them. It’s about visibility. It’s about representation. It’s about community. It’s for that little, brown, queer boy in a rural area to see himself in someone and feel a little less alone.
It’s taken a lot of unlearning, but now I can look at Pride as the positive annual event that it should be. It reminds me that there is a community, that there is love, and that when we come together, we can achieve amazing things. It reminds me to remain curious and to ask questions with an open mind and heart. And although the work is far from over, it also reminds me to be hopeful and to reflect on how many positive changes have been made since I was a 13-year-old boy trying to figure out how I fit into this world. I think kid-me would be proud to learn that I’m now a happy, healthy, still queer, married man!
Change is inevitable, but let’s remember to keep it positive.
Steven Alvarez
Marketing Specialist, Stantec
Associate Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, SMPS Philadelphia
Steven Alvarez is a Marketing Specialist at Stantec working remotely with the North Central Marketing Team. After 8 years of developing events and sales plans for for-profit and non-profit art spaces, he translated that experience into marketing roles within the AEC industry. In an effort to learn more about the industry and proposal processes, Steven has been attending SMPS Philadelphia events since 2016 and officially became a member via the DEI Membership Grant and joined the DEI Committee. He is the Associate Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at SMPS Philadelphia and resides in South Jersey with his husband, Shamus, and their two rescue pups, Waldorf and Statler.
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