By Dr. Louis V. Haynes
Although Pride month is over, being proud of your sexual orientation and gender identity and expression should occur throughout the year and not just during the month of June. However, far too often do we refer to the month and festivities of June as "Gay Pride" or the "Gay Pride Parade." Even in the acronym "LGBT," the "T" is just added to the tail end, further illustrating the marginalization of the trans community.
This is even more accentuated for transgender people of color and immigrants. It is so incredibly important to your overall well-being and health to love yourself and take pride in who you are, particularly if you have several layers of minority status (e.g., person of color, transgender, and undocumented, etc.).
One black trans activist, Ashlee Marie Preston, shows us exactly how we can take more pride in being transgender and gender non-conforming. She developed the "Trans Royalty Project" to help members of the trans community recognize their value and worth is on par with our most revered members of society, royalty. You'll want to check her work out: Ashlee Marie Preston on Transgender Greatness
You might also want to think about what you actions (including self-statements) you take to show you're proud of being transgender or gender non-conforming. We all need to remind ourselves in some form every day, that we are beautiful, valuable, and worthy of love and belonging.
