Here’s my list of tips for making the most of LGBTQ Pride

• Remember why we are celebrating Pride in June, and where the notion of a yearly remembrance and celebration came from. Know enough about the Stonewall Riots to know why Pride is important today.
• Remember Pride is a celebration! There are a million things we can find fault with in the LGBTQ community as well as our society as a whole. Queer people of all stripes still face discrimination, violence, a lack of opportunity, and acceptance. But we can’t individually or collectively do much about that unless we start from a place of feeling empowered, and celebrating who we are is primary way to charge your own batteries and have the energy to do the hard work of changing the world in which we live.
• Remember, Pride means many different things to many different people. It may be wearing a rainbow flag pin on your lapel. It may be marching in a Pride March or parade. It may be dancing and partying with the rest of the tribe. It may mean opening yourself up to new and different aspects of the queer community. It may be doing some activism or advocacy work. Don’t waste time criticizing what Pride shouldn’t be, but rather make Pride be what ever you want and need it to be.
• Remember Pride isn’t about just the organized things managed by some Pride organization. The organization doesn’t determine what Pride is, they are just one vehicle for you to participate in Pride.
• Look at your close circle of friends, your circle of acquaintances, and the broader circle of people who who are around you. How many are just like you and how many are different? Reach out and make connections to others within the LGBTQ community who are not like you. See the rainbow from a broader perspective!
• Definitely get off of social Media as your primary connection to others, and get out and in the midst of other LGBTQ people! Say hello, shake hands, offer hugs, and make real face to face connections! Connecting on Social Media is important but it isn’t enough. Get off the grid of the network, and do it the old school way!
• Ask yourself, are you really proud of all that you are, including your sexual orientation and gender identity and expression. If you can’t say you are proud of the whole of you, then make a commitment to begin to change that. We all deserve to be proud of ourselves!
• Seek out some Pride related activity or experience you have never participated in before!
• Be a part of the crowd without necessarily going along blindly with the crowd.
• If you think that Pride is only about drinking and hooking up, slap yourself. If you think drinking and hooking up are shameful actions during Pride, slap yourself.

Lastly, remember that the real value of Pride, isn’t just what happens at Pride or during Pride month, but the value is found in the ways we carry that celebration, energy, resolve, self awareness and love into the entire rest of the year and all aspects of our life! Now, get out there and make the most of Pride!