Aw, man, it’s my favourite time of year.
The sun is shining, we Canadians are coming out of our winter hibernation and out of our closets. Hand me my rainbow boobie tassels and put me at the front of the parade.
If you’re on TikTok, it’s possible you’ve heard of the Late-to-Lesbian trend. It was a banner year in 2020 for the ‘L’s' in the LGBTQ+ community. If you missed the moment, it was essentially a surprising amount of female-identifying persons learning later in life that they’re gay (or, as in my case, bi/pan) and coming out of the closet.
It’s kind of wild how many people this affected – and how this radically impactful realization drew so many together through similar and shared experiences.
There’s a whole Instagram page dedicated to it: @latetolesbian. They have nearly 80,000 followers so it’s safe to say this is not an isolated event.
The page highlights the stories and experiences of various women that are going through what’s referred to as ‘second puberty’ because they have this sexual awakening when they’re 30-plus. It provides a safe and relatable community for women to take refuge if they find themselves in similar circumstances.
I love this for a number of reasons. I’m always heartened by women supporting women, but also because of what a beautiful and amazing privilege it is to come out at a time when you can be so open about it… so open that there’s an entire social trend created by it.
With that said, I want to take a moment to acknowledge, recognize and validate all those that paved the way in normalizing varied sexualities and orientations, the ones that had to (and some that still) cut trail so the rest of us have a safe place to land when we learn who we are.
This is what Pride is truly all about. It’s about understanding that there was a vast community of individuals that hid who they were for most of – or in many cases – their entire lives.
They might have known who they were, but they hid because they could be sacrificing their jobs, livelihood, their families, friends and social relationships, and in many cases even their safety and their lives.
I’ve heard the criticism about Pride celebrations being too loud, too in-your-face. It makes me wonder if these critics truly comprehend what non-heteronormative people have been through.
A man I know was closeted because he feared prejudice would impact the success of his business. At this time the AIDS epidemic was at a crisis level and they weren’t sure how it was contracted.
He was plagued by stress, not only for his own health and well-being, but he also stopped using the restrooms at work in case he risked harming someone by sharing the virus through toilet seat use.
Five hundred words is truly not enough to convey all that ought to be said. There are countless stories from LGBTQ+ community members that are worth hearing, so if you find yourself wondering why is this important, reach out to an alphabet mafia member and I’m sure they will happily share with you.
Happy June to those celebrating the freedom to be their whole self.
And for those still asking: Why are we so loud? So much? So extra? We’re camp because it’s fun. You should try it sometime.
