This article saddens me. You do not need to celebrate Pride, just like you don’t need to celebrate Christmas. But it is one thing to not feel a part of a community (by race, religion, ideology, or difference) and another thing to critique something that many people recognize as necessary to our visibility, our rights, and our freedoms, through the lens of your own personal challenges.

It is far too easy to blame external circumstances. Instead you CAN honour the work, the changes, the liberation, the rights and freedom that LGBTQ individuals have made in the world, instead of making it all about your emotions. You could not publish this article on Medium if it would not for what PRIDE stands for. THAT in itself is something to be PROUD of.

You can sit on the sidelines and critique, or you can be the change you want to see in the world. No group, no organization, no community is perfect. But when you write a misguided and problematic article like this, you give those in power who are prejudiced against LGBTQ people even more credence in their beliefs.

Perhaps consider reading this: