(disclaimer: this is copied from mastodon, but i have some Strong Feelings so I wanted to say it here too, if that's okay)
Pride month starts tomorrow, and to trans folks, I am urgently requesting you to find some joy this month.
I realize this sounds really flowery and empty. Maybe this isn't the top priority, maybe it feels like it's making yourself feel better in lieu of action.
Regardless, I am still directly and sincerely asking this of you. It doesn't need to be gender-related or a big thing.
But we're fighting an existential threat. Please experience what it is we're fighting for.
I'm currently stuck in Missouri and don't feel safe going to pride this year. I would be sincerely grateful knowing that even in this environment, we're capable of taking a moment and being happy.
If we all disappeared tomorrow, would this fight have been a waste of time? Certainly not if we can say we let some moments of happiness get through. It's tragic to have that snuffed out, but it'd be worse if we were robbed of ever having those moments to begin with.
I've been thinking a lot lately about "the meaning of Christmas" type messaging in relation to us, and to pride.
It's really easy to be conditioned into seeing our celebration as that same kind of feel-good. Or even pacification.
But we've lost so much, and it's so hard to function these days. I think it's absolutely essential that we observe the occasion to meditate - even for a moment - on a bit of happiness that can't be denied.
At the very least, try.
And for the record, I realize this isn't easy for a lot of folks struggling with mental health. I deal with ideation, myself. But even if you don't succeed, at least you showed yourself what you still have, rather than complete resignation.
Even if all you feel is despair, at least you showed yourself you can still try, y'know? Even that is something to celebrate, and it feels important to note that?
also to be quite honest i think my request is best framed as something selfish for me. Like. If you're exhausted doing it for yourself or some theoretical, "happy future-you" that you have to try to imagine.
Then fuck it, do it for me. Do it for some internet rando. Do me a solid. Sometimes it's way easier to do things for others, to be useful. So if you gotta frame it that way, fine. Cause I promise it will make me happy to know you tried to find joy.
