How to Celebrate Pride Month With Your Queer Baby
You may have already started celebrating Pride Month as a whole family by talking to your kids about what it means to identify as LGBT, learning about local events, or drawing on rainbow-colored crafts and baked goods. But if your child identifies as LGBTQ, you may be wondering what else you can or should do to mark the month.
Ask them how they want to celebrate
First, it’s important to recognize that while you can come up with all the ideas of the world, cover your home with rainbows, and make a list of all the local events you can attend together, your celebrations should ultimately reflect your child’s needs and feelings. Maybe they want the whole family to get in the car to head to the local Pride festival, or maybe they’d rather go with a friend (or not celebrate at all). Tell them that you want to celebrate the month and celebrate their personality, but also that you want to respect any boundaries and priorities they may have.
Perhaps they already have some ideas, or they may not want to do much at all. Follow their lead in this question, but if they want to celebrate or celebrate the month and don’t know how to do it, here are some ideas you could suggest or implement yourself.
Offer to host a pride party
Hopefully you are willing (and happy) to attend any Pride events they would like to go to, but if they prefer the celebration to be smaller and more intimate, you can suggest hosting your own Pride party at home. Who they might want to invite or what this party looks like will depend on whether they go with family or friends – and how supportive those family and friends have been.
You can plan the celebration in any way that works best for them, from a loud and vibrant party to a small gathering of their loved ones and their supporters.
Spend a family evening (or nights ) with LGBT films
Chances are there are tons of films exploring modern LGBTQ history that you’ve never seen: now is the time! As Ross Johnson recently wrote for Lifehacker :
There are as many ways to learn queer history as there are people who have lived through it, and many legends that we almost forgot about who in a fairer world will become a household name. History can be inspiring and can also help us avoid repeating the same damn mistakes over and over – mistakes like forgetting that transgender people of color were at the forefront of gay liberation .
Pride is a time to celebrate, honor and remember it all, whether it’s trans, bi, ace, poly, pan, intersex, non-binary, or any other subject of gender and sexual identity and spectrum of expression … or just proud to support your weird friends.
Johnson has compiled a list of the 30 most important queer films ever made, which you can find here . Ask everyone in the family to pick a movie (or three), make some popcorn, and start watching.
Think How Inclusive Your Own Home Is
It’s nice to talk to your baby about how to recognize the month, but pride is something that should extend throughout the year, especially in your home. Engagement, love, and support are things that they’ll also need in July and August, and there may be ways in which you inadvertently don’t show them these things.
Remember that your native language may need updating to become more inclusive. You might want to start using more terms like “partner” or “significant other” rather than “boyfriend or girlfriend” and avoid gender aspects by describing them as “girly” or “masculine”. And definitely be sure to use their favorite pronouns.
If the dominant imagery in your home is heterosexual, cis, look for ways to diversify and add more inclusive imagery and media to your daily life. You can also make a donation to support an LGBT organization in honor of your child – and tell them that you did it.