Pride Month Reflections: Ensuring Dignity and a Better Tomorrow

Pride Month Reflections: Ensuring Dignity and a Better Tomorrow

This is our final post in a nearly yearlong series of over 30 entries, culminating in this Pride Month. Despite the extensive coverage, our ultimate goal remains to support gender non-conforming and trans individuals in finding their own dignity without external influence. My personal commitment, and our institutional support, for ALL QUEERS—including those yet to come—will never waver. However, we must also maintain our loyalty and accountability. Criticism is welcomed and has already made the follow-ups more robust by request. No one in this community, especially those in positions of power like myself, should ever be beyond reproach. Keep your foot on our necks. Following this reflection, you'll find a call to action and a comprehensive timeline for anyone who may have missed previous posts.

 

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Pride month has been a complex and challenging time on a national level for several years now. Many people have expressed feelings of dejection and exclusion, questioning the purpose beyond the commercial aspects and the festive glitter. This year, I wanted to remind everyone that Pride is fundamentally about ensuring the dignity and safety of the queerest members of our community.

 

While we had some fun posts, gear and Butters, our primary focus was on addressing the critical information gaps that our community needed most. Since the legalization of gay marriage, we've been in a state of confusion and lack of direction. Many voices have claimed to have the next steps toward queer liberation, but it took me nearly a decade to make sense of it all. So, I set out to find my own understanding to share.

 

When I began planning for Pride Month, I aimed to walk you through my confusion and my journey toward understanding. Despite the personal and professional risks, we needed to find out for sure. Eagle-eyed readers might notice that the learning process began in 2023, focusing on living well, finding your authentic self, reconnecting with family, and setting realistic life goals. Even last year's Pride content was impacted by my brewing concern. These topics formed the foundation of my proposed treatment plan, which has proven effective in real life for me, my clients, friends, and family in alleviating the symptoms of gender dysphoria, anxiety, depression, social disconnection, and general malaise.

 

Although the possible realities and implications weighed heavily on me, your response to the information has been inspiring. There was some confusion, ire, and criticism, as expected for such a tough topic. Mostly, though, people were curious about my concerns, which was my hope in planning the posts how I did. Once I had your attention and understood your questions, I shared the curated information that convinced me to see if it would convince you. You've been absorbing the info and starting to think as I did. I couldn't have asked for a better outcome. I certainly don't want you making major medical or political decisions solely based on my analysis. Thought alone satisfies me—you will make the most dignified decisions for your life with the most information.

 

More than anything, I am immensely proud of our community this Pride Month. When I started studying sex over 20 years ago, I never imagined I'd be in this position. I wanted to institute sex ed curriculum nationally in K-12 schools originally. My goal has always been to help people develop a healthier relationship with sex because it touches so many aspects of our lives. I want to thank you for your patience and open-mindedness as I navigated this incredibly challenging but vital topic in my "unique" way. My approach may be forceful and direct, but it always stems from deep compassion. I have been fortunate to cultivate a community of equally curious and dedicated individuals. Now, I await, filling in the blanks alongside fellow professionals who have been communicating with me behind the scenes.

 

I hope our collective research concludes that my concerns are unfounded. I want to be wrong. I want to apologize for stirring things up unnecessarily. I want us to have the answers already. Facing the potential realities is daunting, but my discomfort with the apparent facts is outweighed by my commitment to ensuring the well-being and dignity of the queerest among us. To me, this is the most important series I've ever written. I hope my concern is evident.

 

In 2020, when I established our company goals and values, "providing solutions and support for the queerest among us" was a priority. Gender non-conforming and trans people have never had a safe space in American culture. If there is a chance that we might be harming them medically in an attempt to help, I am willing to risk everything to inform the public.

 

As we transition into July and Kink Month, my focus will shift more towards pleasure. Honestly, my anxiety is too high to handle another month of this intensity. But these topics and issues remain close to my heart. Until we have solid science and state-of-the-art care for people suffering from gender dysphoria, nothing else matters to me in this world.

 

 

So, What Do I Want You to Do?

 

Live:

Stay Calm: The worst thing we can do in the face of a possible crisis is to meltdown. We need to continue to enjoy the grasps of normalcy we have. If we need to Act UP!, that time will come.

 

Read the Bibliography and Watch the Videos:

Engage Deeply: Read the bibliography thoroughly and watch the included videos. Listen to the stories and observe the expressions of those sharing their experiences. Vet these sources for any hidden biases or phobias. This process takes time—I had to watch most of these multiple times to truly understand this information might be distinct from alt-right fear-mongering. The Swedish 4-Part documentary, produced by their equivalent of PBS, was particularly impactful for me.

 

Start Conversations:

Discuss and Explore: Once you've absorbed the information, begin discussions. Explore whether the proposed course of action is the best path forward based on our current knowledge. Different states and localities will have varying healthcare resources, so each area may have different answers. We need to gather feedback on both negative and positive experiences to build a comprehensive understanding of public sentiment regarding modern informed consent practices.

 

Share Professional Contacts:

Network and Collaborate: If you have access to exceptional therapists, counselors, surgeons, or researchers, please share their information with me and the community. I will compile and share these resources with the broader community. You can also tag us on social media, and we'll disseminate the information through our channels.

 

Propose Improved Treatment Plans:

Contribute Solutions: We now know this audience is composed of professionals and thinkers who can handle these complex conversations. I encourage you to propose better plans for the treatment or diagnosis of dysphoria. Your expertise and insights are crucial in developing effective solutions.

 

 

Call to Action

I may not be the person to implement practical changes directly, but you might be. You might connect the dots, propose a better plan, or provide more accurate information. This is a collaborative effort, and I am just initiating the conversation. My strengths lie in bravery, passion, and logic, but these alone are not enough to tackle such intricate issues. I need your help to move forward and potentially close this challenging chapter in our history.

 

Full Trans Health Article Timeline:

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