Be Proud During (LA) Pride Month!

Hello there, it's your girl LA in LA! if you have come from my youtube channel, welcome :) and if you're from my instagram @lekemunpacks, hello again!

This week I interviewed one of my best friends April Tate (@apriltatertot) and we talked about the most relevant topic to date: #PRIDE!

In case you didn't know it's #pridemonth! The month of June was chosen to celebrate the #LGBTQ+ community's impact. June was chosen since the #stonewallriots took place in June of 1969. The Stonewall Riots were a series of spontaneous acts of violence towards a police raid that took place at the Stonewall Inn in New York CIty's, Greenwich village.

As a New Yorker myself, I can confidently say that Greenwich is an enclave of the gays mainly because of its historical background. Pride in New York is always held around Greenwich on 6th Avenue (if you know, you know), and is open to everyone!

Pride in Los Angeles is a little different for one main reasons: you have to pay. Now at first, I myself was skeptical: why should an event that supports the community, charge the community? Then I realized where all the money was going to: The Trevor Project. The Trevor Project is a non-profit organization (founded in 1998) focused on suicide prevention efforts among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning youth. This project has helped many youngsters prevent their suicide attempts, & funding an organization that is non-profit and helps the youth is a win in my eyes.

In my interview with April (https://youtu.be/ysWXtWsNtQY) we talked about different details regarding pride, but the most important topic was regarding the challenges that she herself faces. April identifies as bisexual, which is something that she struggled with in her relationships. "personally, it's for me hard to distinguish who I have feelings for and who I like as a person", April said. For some people it comes easy, and for others- not so much. Each person is different and has different challenges when it comes to their identity, so it's important to support one another no matter what.

Another point April made in our interview was that Pride is for #everyone. "you do not have to be gay, to go to pride", she says, and I couldn't agree more. Going to pride is a form of respect and support, even if you do not identify with the community. I, myself, do not identify with the community, but I support it as much as I can and going to pride is one of the ways I do.

Do everyone a favor, and share your pride with us :) No matter what it is, we are all proud of something, and you should be #PROUD of who you are!