A Maysayer. Ha!
Terrible jokes aside, let’s consider why the naysayers we may encounter this month might be mistaken and how we need more than the days in June dedicated to struggles represented by Pride, Loving Day, and Juneteenth.
June is one of my favorite months. In my geographic location, the weather is typically just right — not too hot or too cold. It’s the month when my partner and I celebrate our wedding anniversary. Choosing to marry this man is one of the best decisions I’ve ever made, even after two decades. Additionally, June marks the start of summer and brings the anticipation of a slower pace to life. There’s much to celebrate.
Beyond my personal life accomplishments and preferences for weather and a leisurely rhythm, June is a month for celebrating, reflecting, and making plans for how to do and be better. It’s a month that calls us in anew to the ongoing struggle for equality and reminds America of our ostensible national values. Here’s to June and America’s collective celebrations of Pride Month, Loving Day, and Juneteenth!
Pride Month
Pride, which takes place throughout June, is a time to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community and honor the 1969 Stonewall Uprising. The Stonewall protests in Manhattan marked a turning point in the fight for LGBTQ+ rights in the United States. They galvanized the community to demand equal rights and freedom from persecution.
Pride is an opportunity to recognize and celebrate the contributions that the LGBTQ+ community has made to society, culture, and politics. It is also a time to shine a spotlight on the challenges that the community still faces. Pride Month serves as a reminder of the ongoing struggle against discrimination, harassment, and violence. It’s our month-long call to action to do and be better.
Loving Day
Loving Day, the yearly celebration that takes place on June 12th, commemorates the 1967 United States Supreme Court decision in the landmark civil rights case of Loving v. Virginia. On this day in 1967 the Supreme Court struck down laws banning interracial marriage. As you might imagine, Loving Day is pretty significant for my mixed race family.
The decision in Loving v. Virginia was a pivotal moment and paved the way for millions of people of different races to marry and start families without fear of legal persecution. Each year, June 12th serves as a reminder of the ongoing fight for inclusion, acceptance, and equality. It’s our call to do and be better.
Juneteenth
Juneteenth — the annual American holiday that commemorates the end of slavery in the United States — is observed on June 19th. On this day in 1865, General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas, to announce that all enslaved people were free. However, this news only reached those still held captive in Texas after two years of white enslavers keeping it secret and continuing to profit from free forced labor. It took two years for the enslaved people in Texas to finally become aware of their freedom.
While Juneteenth is a day of celebration, it’s also a day to remember that the end of slavery did not put an end to racial inequity. We must recognize that justice was not served in emancipation, and freedom from bonded lifelong servitude and race-based denigration was not achieved when slavery ended. Juneteenth serves as a reminder of the ongoing struggle for racial justice and equity, and the need to make amends. It’s our call to do better and be better.
Friends, I may not be familiar with your individual story, and I’m not in a position to write another person’s narrative for them. However, if you consider yourself part of the United States, then your story is tied to Pride Month, Loving Day, and Juneteenth because these are all part of our shared story and shared struggle. We can’t choose to cut ourselves off from our collective history of dehumanization and intolerance.
However, many of us choose how or if we will engage with the problems that necessitate celebrations and remembrances such as Pride, Loving Day, and Juneteenth. We are all free to interpret the significance of these days in June. We are all also caught up in the lengthy and unending campaigns and relentless striving for dignity, civility, autonomy, protected personhood that accompany them.
America still has a long way to go before we can unabashedly claim to be a country with “liberty and justice for all.” The month of June is not enough time dedicated to promoting equal rights for individuals, regardless of their sexual orientation, gender identity, race, or who they choose to marry. June is just one month, and the struggle for equal rights and liberty for all is with us every day.
This month represents what I wish for the entire year — celebrating the progress made in advancing equal rights and freedom, acknowledging that equity is not yet our reality, and action to move us forward. Striving for full personhood for all people does not end on July 1. As we move through June, let’s abandon the false narrative that everyone is equal here and enjoys the fundamental rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
So let’s celebrate, friends. As we gather to enjoy the progress we’ve witnessed, let’s also imagine a better, more equitable world and take action to create it. Pride, Loving Day, and Juneteenth celebrations share the month of June and a struggle that has not yet been fully realized. Although progress has been made, more is needed to ensure that all people are treated with the respect, dignity, protections, and self-determination enjoyed by some in America.
Happy Pride Month, Loving Day, and Juneteenth! May our celebrations inspire and ignite change.
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