Max Preuninger is three-time GLA alum (Thailand: In & Beyond the Classroom™, Ghana: Children of Africa™, and Tanzania: Children’s Education Adventure) and Ambassador of the Year 2018. He is an advocate for LGBTQ rights and active in his community in Bryant, Arkansas. Read his bio and interview here!
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Pride month is hands down one of the best and worst months of the year. It can be difficult to find reasons to celebrate when only certain parts of the LGBT community are really accepted by society, and it can be difficult to feel allowed to celebrate when we have so many brothers, sisters, and everyone in-between who are criminalized across the globe. It can be a month that reminds me of the unique challenges that I’ve had to face that maybe my straight, cisgender peers haven’t.
Despite that, pride month is like a safe-haven. While this contrasts heavily with the extravagant events of pride month, June reminds me of rainy days where I can sit by a window with a fuzzy blanket, enjoying a good book. It’s a comforting feeling where I’m able to pause and realize that things really aren’t so bad. Pride month is a time to remember every person and event that has contributed to another movement for equal rights and to be proud of your own place in that history, because believe it or not, every person in this community is making history in their own way.
Pride month isn’t supposed to be about fear of persecution or failure or discrimination. Pride month means overcoming enough of that fear to see that there are thousands of people that you don’t even know standing behind you, ready to lift you off your knees and dust you off time and time again. It’s all about being able to realize what you’re a part of. Sometimes, it’s hard for me to comprehend the amount of love and support that radiates so heavily from the smiles of people when I say “Happy Pride!” after seeing a rainbow pin.
Pride month is different for everyone. For some, it’s another year of building the confidence to come out, for others it’s celebrating another year of being able to be unapologetically themselves. The energy that comes with pride month’s celebrations of love, acceptance, and equality really allows allies and members of the community to desire equality for those who are yet to be granted it across the world. It’s a perfect balance really, refueling the community halfway through the year to remind us all of the support we have from each other while simultaneously reminding us that this fight isn’t over.
For me, it’s a reminder that we’re still making progress. We’re here. We aren’t invisible–I’m not invisible. It reminds me that we can’t forget to fight for others simply because we’ve gained more equal rights. It just gives me hope for my future and the future of the world really, being able to celebrate and want the same things with people I’ve never even seen before.
