Every June, rainbow flags go up in storefronts, brands update their logos, and cities host parades that stretch for miles. For many people, Pride Month is a party. For others, it is something much older and harder-won than that. It is a reminder of survival.
Where It Started
Pride was not born in a corporate campaign. It grew out of rebellion. In the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, patrons of the Stonewall Inn in New York City fought back against a police raid, an act of resistance that lit a fuse. The protests that followed over the next several days became a rallying point for a community that had been criminalized, institutionalized, and erased for decades. A year later, marches in New York and Los Angeles marked the anniversary. Those marches became the parades we know today.
The people at the center of that uprising were largely transgender women of color, drag queens, and homeless queer youth. Their names deserve to be remembered: Marsha P. Johnson, Sylvia Rivera, Miss Major Griffin-Gracy. Pride, at its roots, was their fight.
What We Are Celebrating
Pride is a celebration of identity and the freedom to live openly. It is a space where queer people, who often grew up isolated or told to hide, can find one another and recognize that they are not alone. That visibility matters enormously, especially for LGBTQ+ youth who are still figuring out who they are.
But Pride is also a celebration of progress. Same-sex couples can marry legally in the United States and in a growing number of countries worldwide. Transgender people have greater legal recognition and medical access than at any prior point in history, even as those rights continue to face serious challenges. The simple fact that millions of people can march openly, hold hands in public, and say “I exist” without fear of arrest represents a transformation that earlier generations fought for and, in many cases, did not live to see.
The Work That Remains
Celebrating progress is not the same as declaring victory. In the United States and around the world, LGBTQ+ people still face disproportionate rates of housing instability, family rejection, and workplace discrimination. Transgender individuals, particularly Black and Brown trans women, continue to face alarming rates of violence. Queer youth remain overrepresented among homeless youth populations. In dozens of countries, same-sex relationships are still criminalized.
Pride is a time to honor how far things have come and to stay clear-eyed about how far there is left to go.
Protecting What Matters: A Note on Estate Planning
One practical way that LGBTQ+ individuals and couples can protect themselves and their families is through thoughtful estate planning. For queer families, this is not a bureaucratic afterthought. It is a safeguard.
Even with marriage equality in place, legal protections for LGBTQ+ families can vary significantly by state and can shift with political changes. Wills, healthcare proxies, powers of attorney, and beneficiary designations ensure that the people you love are recognized and protected regardless of how a law or a relative might challenge your family’s legitimacy. For same-sex couples, especially those with children, having these documents in place can be the difference between a family staying intact and a family being torn apart in a legal dispute.
Consulting an estate attorney who is knowledgeable about LGBTQ+ family structures is one of the most concrete acts of love and protection a person can offer the people they care about most.
How to Show Up
If you are straight or cisgender and want to be a meaningful ally during Pride and beyond, the most useful thing you can do is listen. Support LGBTQ+-owned businesses. Donate to organizations that serve queer youth, trans people, and LGBTQ+ people facing housing insecurity. Vote for policies and candidates who support LGBTQ+ civil rights. And when you see someone being treated with cruelty or dismissed, say something.
Allyship is not a one-time declaration. It is a practice.
The Heart of It
Pride is joy, and it is grief. It is community, and it is a political statement. It is the memory of people who did not survive long enough to see what their courage made possible. It is the teenager in a small town who types a search into their phone late at night and finds out they are not the only one.
For one month a year, the flags go up everywhere. The goal is a world where every person can live openly and safely every other month, too.
Happy Pride. To every queer person reading this:
you are not too much, not too little, not a problem to be solved.
You are exactly enough.
For more on Texas estate planning, and to learn about estate planning lawyer Tom Misteli and The Misteli Law Firm, visit www.mistelilaw.com.
