Celebrating Pride With Loved Ones

This year I will forever remember my Los Angeles Pride experience. I was fortunate to accompany 4 of the most important people in my life to their very first pride festivities. Although I have participated and walked in many pride events and parades in the past, this was the first one that I did with the ones that I love.

My sister's first pride event

My sister identifies as a lesbian and had never been to a pride event before. She will soon be turning twenty-five and has spent the last few years discovering who she is. I was able to get her and my other sister tickets to the pride event this past Friday. An artist that they really loved was performing but they were excited to see what else pride had to offer. When I spoke to them after pride, they told me how much they enjoyed themselves and how they would like to go back each year. They continued to talk about how much love and transparency was at the pride event. I would have loved to go with them this year but unfortunately, I had to work.

A special pride with my mother

My mother has always been very supportive of me but for some reason I never asked her to attend pride with me. This year was different because I have been trying to spend a lot more time with my family. My mother has done the AIDS Walk with me in the past but never pride. I was super excited to take my mom to the second day of pride this year because the main head liner was Mariah Carey. I grew up listening to Mariah Carey with my mom and would sing along to all her songs in the car and at home. My mother had an amazing time and told me how much she loved the environment and pride within the LGBTQ+ community. I am hoping to turn this into a tradition with my family each year.

My boyfriend's courageous step

My boyfriend also attended his first pride event and pride parade. I was fortunate enough to be able to walk alongside the organization that I work for during this year’s pride parade in Hollywood and asked my partner if he would join me. I have shared with you in the past that my partner just recently came out not to long ago so walking in the pride parade made him hesitant. As of right now he is out to his friends and his family but not any of his coworkers. He had asked me if there was going to be news outlets filming the parade and if it would end up on the news. I told him that there was a high possibility of it being on the news and if he did not feel comfortable doing it yet then I would not judge him for that. I decided to take a step back and let him decide for himself if he wanted to be out and open about himself. I am blessed to say that he decided to walk with me during the pride parade and held my hand the entire time.