Name: Dawn
Location: Seattle, WA
I Identify as…. Bi, Queer
What does Pride mean to you?
Pride represents freedom from oppression, agency, and the power to live the lives that align with us. It means being true to ourselves and free to express that fully without being targeted, constrained by social insecurities, or silenced by people who fear thinking for themselves. Pride is queerness in all forms, sexually and in gender.
How do you identify, and how do you see yourself within the LGBTQIA+ community?
I like the term queer as it does not put me in a box, and I feel very queer; however, I am considered bisexual as part of the community.
When did you first attend a Pride event? Can you share that experience?
I first attended Pride in 2012 in Seattle. I remember how beautiful it felt to be surrounded by so much freedom of expression. I felt like I was in a sea of people who embraced my queerness in a way that I, for the first time, felt like I was a part of the community and not an outsider. Even though I had been having queer relationships since I was 14 years old, I never felt I had a place in the community. I grew up in Laramie, Wyoming, and was the first student to go to prom with a same-sex sex date, back in 1992, but I still did not feel like I belonged in the LGBTQAI+ community until my first Pride in Seattle.
How do you feel when you attend LGBTQIA+ events like Pride?
Watching people express themselves freely fills me with joy. I have also found that the women’s pride events I have attended in Seattle have made me feel like I am home.
What is the importance to you that Pride represents?
Pride represents a continuous need to celebrate where we have come from and an understanding that social awareness around sexual and gender diversity has not yet been fully actualized. We are here, but we aren’t there yet!
When talking about community, how has it impacted your life?
Community is all about support, encouragement to be your best self, and being embraced as a unique person.
What can we do as a community to bring us together more and make us stronger?
Our community needs to always remember how hard we have all worked to be true to who we are. We need to stay strong by overcoming differences and judgment, and by uniting around our shared values and individual power to make change.
How do you see our community transforming in the next 5 to 10 years?
I believe the community will be united and filled with empowerment because we will have overcome people’s social fears and will be able to shine brightly in all that we are. We will recognize one another’s strengths and contribute to the whole, together as the LGBTQAI+ community. We will show the world that we are a powerful force of good.
What comments do you have for the other letters of our community (L)(G)(B)(T)(Q)(I)(A)(+)?
Love one another and find commonalities, not differences. We are way more powerful together.
Any comments that you want people to hear regarding Pride and our community?
First, be true to yourself; understand who you are beneath all the social expectations and false narratives that make us feel somehow less worthy of care. Second, figure out what you are passionate about, and do that more. Third, care for others, but also treat yourself with just as much love and respect. Remember that each of you deserves to be happy, loved, free to express yourself, and respected. When you come to Pride, embrace that in yourself and others, and you will be honoring all who have suffered to make it possible.
