Pride — which is celebrated throughout the month every June — means different things to different people. For some, it’s a celebration of hard-won rights and recognition for LGBTQ people. For others, it’s a party: a chance to see and be seen.

For many in our “older” generation, Pride has to do with the resilience and determination it took to make it through some pretty tough times.

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Basically, we’re proud we survived all the s**t that’s been thrown our way.

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Honestly, most of us thought the worst of those hard times were behind us, at least in the United States.

Alas, it was not to be.

But if people think the open hostility of the Trump administration to LGBTQ+ people and our concerns means our community will now roll over and play dead, they know even less about us than we thought.

Since the two of us left the United States at the end of 2017, we’ve now celebrated LGBTQ+ Pride all over the world.

In Istanbul, which used to have the largest Pride parade in the Islamic world, Pride is now banned. Despite that, brave activists still march, using social media alerts to evade the police pursuing them with water cannons and tear gas.

In 2021, we joined them, and when the police finally caught up with us, we got tear-gassed right along with everyone else.

Things were better the following year in Sarajevo, Bosnia, and Herzegovina.

But there was enough local opposition to LGBTQ+ rights that the Pride Parade was confined to a three-block stretch, carefully guarded by security.

But remember what we said about resilience and determination? The celebration was unstoppable, and Sarajevo ended up being one of the most moving Prides we’ve ever attended.

Last year, we were in Oslo, Norway for Pride, and the event was a joyous, city-wide celebration seemingly without any controversy at all. It made a nice change after Istanbul and Sarajevo.

(But sadly, two years before, a man killed two people and seriously wounded nine others in an attack on Oslo Pride, proving that hate knows no borders.)

In our travels, we’ve visited lots of other places where LGBTQ+ visibility is common, like Reykjavik, where the Rainbow Street, known locally as Skólavörðustígur, celebrates Pride year-round.

And London, where we visited Leadenhall Market, which stood in for Diagon Alley in one of the Harry Potter films. From 2021 to 2023, it hosted an installation showing the evolution of the Pride flag — perhaps a subtle dig at J.K. Rowling’s increasingly unbalanced anti-trans views.

On the other hand, in many of the other places we’ve visited, we’ve seen no signs of LGBTQ+ visibility at all. The more repressive and anti-democratic a place is, the more likely this is to be.

Which brings us back to America, which is definitely now at a crossroads when it comes to the treatment and visibility of its LGBTQ+ residents.

Yes, yes, it was such a sick burn by the Trump administration to propose renaming the S.S. Harvey Milk — a ship named after the famous civil rights leader — during Pride Month. And also to ban the flying of Pride flags on government buildings, and to openly pressure corporations to end their sponsorship of Pride events.

And, yes, the administration is now encouraging other countries to harass and intimidate their LGBTQ+ citizens too, including banning their Pride events.

This is having a real impact on this year’s Pride, with many events already canceled.

Sure, they can cancel events, but do these people really think they can cancel Pride?

Have these folks honestly never watched How the Grinch Stole Christmas?

Just like Christmas isn’t about packages, boxes, and bags, Pride isn’t about floats, music, and glitter.

It’s about a feeling — of pride, God damn it!

Well, maybe it’s about pride and glitter. Because the world always needs a little bit of glitter — now more than ever.

Anyway, just like the Grinch couldn’t stop Christmas from coming, Donald Trump and his minions can’t stop Pride from coming either.

The forces of ignorance and repression couldn’t stop it in Istanbul or Sarajevo, and they can’t stop it in America either.

It’s June, and news flash: It came! Somehow or other, it came just the same!

And now Pride is here.

Celebrate it — and feel it.

Happy Pride, Everyone! And here’s hoping for better times ahead.

Michael Jensen is an author, editor, and one-half of Brent and Michael Are Going Places, a couple of traveling gay digital nomads. Subscribe to their free travel newsletter here.

Brent Hartinger is a screenwriter and author. Check out my new newsletter about my books and movies at BrentHartinger.com.

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