Happy Pride! We Will Not Be Silenced. We Will Not Be Erased!
Pride has always been more than parades and rainbow flags. It has always been a declaration — an act of resistance born from necessity. Pride began in the face of violence, hatred, and a world that dared to tell us we did not belong. And today, we are called again to remember: Pride is protest. Pride is power. Pride is community. Pride is survival.
This year, as we come together for World Pride and Montgomery County’s annual Pride celebrations, the world around us reminds us why we must gather, why we must resist, and why we must refuse to be silent.
Across the country, we are witnessing an unprecedented surge of attacks on LGBTQIA+ rights, especially against our trans siblings. In states across this nation, politicians have passed laws that ban gender-affirming healthcare for young people, strip away inclusive education, and attempt to erase queer and trans histories from textbooks and libraries. They are targeting the very core of our humanity — our right to exist, to love, to learn, to thrive.
Even at the federal level, protections are being dismantled. Policies are changing that threaten healthcare access, public education, and civil rights, threatening LGBTQIA+ lives not just in distant places, but right here, in our communities. These are not abstract political debates. These are attacks on real people, real families, and our collective futures.
As a Black queer man, I know what it means to have your existence politicized and your humanity debated. But I also know this: our existence is not up for negotiation. Our joy is not up for debate. We have never been silent, and we will not start now.
In this moment, we don’t just need allies — we need co-conspirators!
We need those willing to move beyond comfort into solidarity. We need those willing to not just stand beside us, but to lock arms with us — to push back against injustice with courage, with action, with love.
This Pride Month, we invite you, community members, friends, chosen family, and allies, to live in your truth boldly. To show up not just when it is easy, but especially when it is hard.
Our liberation is tied to one another’s — None of us are free until all of us are free!
Here’s how you can help:
Show Up. Join us at Montgomery County Pride In The Plaza — the culminating event of World Pride and our county’s annual Pride celebration. Be present in the space, be part of the joy and resistance.
Speak Up. Challenge bigotry when you hear it. Advocate for policies that affirm and protect LGBTQIA+ lives.
Support. Pride is free for all who attend, but it is not free to create. Your donations ensure that MoCo Pride Center and our partners can continue building spaces of affirmation and resistance.
Donate here — every gift fuels visibility, community, and survival.Love Loudly. Affirm the LGBTQIA+ people in your life not just privately, but publicly. Radical love is an act of resistance.
We are not here today because the world made it easy for us. We are here because generations before us refused to give up. We are here because of their resilience, their resistance, and their refusal to be erased.
We gather not only to celebrate how far we have come, but to honor the road ahead — the work still unfinished, the liberation still to be won. And we will win it — together, in authenticity and in truth.
Pride is a reminder: we belong. We have always belonged. And no law, no policy, no elected official can undo the truth of who we are.
As we move through this Pride Month, let us hold fast to this: Pride is not passive. Pride is not permission. Pride is our collective power — living, breathing, refusing to be erased.
To everyone — whether you have the luxury to be out or are questioning, whether you are marching on the frontlines or loving Loudly from the sidelines, you are part of this story. You are needed. You are so loved! Be bold and unapologetic in your authenticity!
You have not met all of the people who are going to love you yet! You absolutely belong! And remember to always live in your truth!
Phillip Alexander Downie (he/him)
CEO, Montgomery County Pride Family || MoCo Pride Center Inc.
