It's LGBT Pride Month. I'm bisexual. Yes, I'm married to a man! Doesn't make me less bisexual.

I still - still! - keep seeing fairly well-meaning people say, "But why do we need Pride? Why isn't there a Straight Month?"

(Warning: F-bombs ahoy!)

Look, darlings. Every single month is straight month. Straight people don't get banned from public restrooms. Straight people don't get beaten and left on fences to die because they dared love someone of the opposite sex. Straight people don't have to commonly worry about being cornered by bullies and aggressively accused of being called a "trap" simply because they were walking down a public street (that has happened to a friend of mine - she was walking down the street minding her own biz when a bunch of dudes decided to threaten her because of her appearance. She was afraid she was gonna die.)

The "why can't we all just get along instead of doing this whole Pride month" thing I keep hearing is nice, but the "let's just get along" part has not happened in the whole history of the U.S. LGBT people have been beaten, castrated, murdered, tortured, every goddamn terrible thing you can think of. And there's still plenty of folks out there who want to do it now. Denying gay couples wedding cakes is just the tip of the iceberg of awfulness.

And yeah, we do need the flaming gay boys in thongs and glitter being out and loud and in people's faces in the Pride parade. We need the middle-aged dykes on their motorbikes. We need the bears flexing in their leather. We need trans folks and genderfluid folks and everybody else in the QUILTBAG dancing and skating and singing and making themselves very, very visible.

You know why?

Because there's nothing fucking wrong with it, first.

There. Is. Nothing. Wrong. With. It.

If thine eye offend thee ... well, you know the rest.

But second, if people get used to see flaming, glittery gay boys in thongs and leather bears and everyone else? They're not gonna be scandalized by a couple of women sharing a kiss in public or a couple of elderly men holding hands. They're not going to bat an eye at someone who is genderqueer, or who is in early gender transition and doesn't perform their gender according to cis standards. And these are things that should not be scandalous, but are. The flaming gays of the world are out there pushing the envelope and making it safe for other people to just low-key exist in public. And, right now, with all the neo-Nazis and bigots making themselves loud and visible, that's extremely necessary.