On this Pride week I thought I would share with everyone what Pride means to me and why I am excited this week.

I am not sure how familiar people are with Pride but in my life, growing up in New York City and being surrounded by out Queer peoples, Pride is a big deal. I have memories of men and women in drag, lots of sequences, body glitter and nudity walking down Fifth Avenue and the general excitement and inescapable festiveness through out the West Village and beyond. People go all out for Pride, and why the heck not? That is why I am so excited for this years Pride here at Colby because I am really feeling the excitement and visibility this week and coming from faculty and students alike. While sequins and glitter and hot naked people (and private parts) may be fun but it is not all Pride is about.

Pride is about loving, and baring your shame. It is about opening yourself up to feel accepted, to feel enough, to feel happiness, to find your bliss. Pride is about owning up to yourself, who you are inside and out, and standing up (and out) for the beautiful human being you are and allowing others to see feel it as well. Pride is about letting yourself hang out—the pieces of ourselves that we constantly tuck away, or suck in, or make excuses for, or let us make ourselves feel less than or not good enough. Pride is about love, lust, passion, and of course sex. It is about freeing our carnal desires and letting go of the oppression both internalized and, ever so strategically/structurally, placed upon us by the apparatus, the institution, the government, the (presumably straight, white) man. And we as Queer peoples whether you are Gay, Lesbian, Bi, Transgender, Transsexual, Poly, Two Spirit, Asexual or whatever you choose, you are RECOGNIZED.

It is during Pride that we are reminded what it feels like to be proud, to feel worthy and even a little entitled. And we must hold on to this feeling and to embrace it in our everyday lives beyond this week (or in June, or whenever the designated time for Pride). To never allow ourselves forget this feeling of being proud of who you are and in turn spreading the love.

So when you are dressing up for Drag Ball, or wearing your Pride T-shirt or just walking around campus and catch sight of a Pride Flag, just remember that there is meaning and feeling behind it. Remember what Pride stands for and what you stand for by taking part in Pride.