Pride

In honor of Gay Pride here in Los Angeles today, I wanted to take a moment and share with you what pride means to me, a straight woman.

I am blessed to have spent the last 10 years of my life living in cities where people come to be themselves. When I moved to Boston in 1999, I myself was on a journey of self discovery.  Having morphed into a person I no longer understood in the final months of my high school experience, Boston was a fresh start for me, a clean slate.  My collage friends welcomed me into an artistic community where, for the first time in a long while, I could relax, be myself, and begin to shed the layers of negativity I had brought into my life.  I was learning not only about my art, but about myself and how to be proud of who I am again.

For me, this is what Pride is about; being embraced by a community, shedding negativity, and learning to love who you are.

So to all my friends, colleagues and people I don't know who are at Pride, thank you. This world is a better place because you are here.