Cammy

Pride is this weekend, and because of what happened in Orlando and the threats of violence at different Pride events around the country, a lot of my friends are starting to feel scared to go. It’s weird because everyone I know looks forward to Pride, and San Francisco Pride is probably one of the biggest celebrations in the country. So it’s really sad that everyone is on the fence this year. It’s more shocking because our city is really accepting of queer people, in my experience. But I guess Orlando could have been really accepting and what happened still happened. It only takes one person to do something like that.

I’m trying not to be scared and my weird coping mechanism is to remind myself that someone got shot at San Francisco Pride last year and I wasn’t super scared then so I shouldn’t be scared now. But now it’s different as a queer girl: Queer people are being targeted. It makes me so upset that someone could just go and ruin lives and instill fear in an entire community. I’ve been dreaming about Pride since last year! I have so many more friends now, and I’m even gonna be in the parade!!! So I don’t want to be scared, I want to have a really good time. I really hope that happens. ♦