What does Pride mean to us? Pride isn’t just a party and a parade through the streets, it’s our identity, our community. Pride is having the freedom to be yourself and embrace who you truly are, to support others around you and create safe spaces for those who can’t always be their authentic selves. It’s giving people the confidence to come out, to speak out. Pride is having an archive full of works that celebrate every gender and sexuality, that explores diverse characters written by diverse authors. It's having a community who support and love. This Pride month we’re reminding everyone that in this community that if you speak, someone will listen. It’s  okay to be uncertain, it’s okay to change. We will help as best we can and before anything else we will support you.

You are valid. 

We've gathered up recs of some of our favourite LGBTQA+ fics from the archives and some of our prefects and staff have shared their stories about what Pride means to them. 

 

 

This year instead of just asking members about their acceptance & coming out journeys, we decided to instead solicit answers to the question, "What does pride mean to you?" We have some wonderful and beautiful words from some of our prefects and staff, so check those out below!

| J U L S |

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Gay pride is something I've always supported. Even when it was something I truly didn't understand. I grew up in a decade (or two) where homosexuality wasn't discussed. Not at home, not at school and not out and about in the general community. I'd never encountered anything 'gay' until I read the novels by John Jakes. (Kent Family Chronicles) Even then, I didn't understand, and I just thought it was all a part of the book.
My brother came out to me (I think he told my mom long before) when he was twenty. I was seventeen. I'll be honest, it was weird. He was dating an older brother to one of my classmates at school. She knew that they were friends, just not that they were lovers. I'd been told because his friend had spent the night with him.

It was a volatile age in the early 80's. Gay people were afraid to come out for fear of prosecution.  My brother's car was vandalized then. In later years, he was beaten almost to death outside of his home in West Hollywood, California. He wasn't allowed to join the Air Force because he refused to not be 'out'. He worked with the Red Cross, was an EMT and an RN. When the AIDS scare came about, he wasn't allowed to give blood anymore. It wasn't until the mid 90's that he was diagnosed with HIV, and then AIDS just before 2000. With drugs created to combat the illness, he still lives.

The most terrible thing I'd heard though, was a family member saying that he 'could change'. That's not how it is. And I will support him and any other in their right to be gay. Open or closeted. - @juls

 

| M A G E M A D I |

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As a cis woman who has been in a committed, long-term heterosexual relationship with a cis man going on almost 8 years now, pride to me typically means supporting my LGBTQ+ friends, speaking out as an ally on their behalf, familiarizing myself with LGBTQ+ media, and engaging in learning opportunities to better my understanding so I can be a better ally for the community. Personally, I've always thought I was heterosexual, because I've never known any different, because I am 95% certain I will be with my boyfriend for the rest of our lives, and because I'm proud of the growth we've had both as a couple and as individuals as we've gotten older and had broader world experiences including with LGBTQ+ friends. So I support Pride from the sidelines, and do so happily.

But even so, there's been a nagging feeling in my brain for the last couple of years that is telling me to reexamine myself a bit, regardless of my current partner status. So this is basically my way of sharing that I am still figuring out my sexuality, and while I haven't really thought on it a whole lot yet (world matters take precedence at this moment), I think that I am bisexual. I haven't shared this with anyone yet, for both selfish and other reasons, but I think as I work through my stuff (with and without my therapist) and figure it out, I'll be much prouder of myself and comfortable with who I am. TL;DR: I'm still figuring my sexuality out, but I don't think that I'm 100% straight anymore. So, yep, this is kind of my low-key way of coming out to y'all   - @magemadi

 

| B E L G I A N   Q U A F F L E |

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Pride to me is being the best friend, supporter, and ally to my LGBTQ+ friends and the community. It means supporting them openly, listening to their experiences and stories, and educating myself on how to be a better ally. From here on the sidelines, it's wanting my friends to know they always have someone who's willing to listen to listen to them and that I love them always   - @belgian quaffle

| S I B I L A N T |

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I didn’t really understand how important pride was to me until I went to college. Because I’m closeted at home, I feel a distinct lack of pride; honestly, I feel a pretty strong sense of shame. My parents are entrenched in their prejudices and old habits, often spouting a number of homophobic comments. None aggressive and bold; more subtle and insidious, slowly poisoning my conception of myself. Before I came to terms with my bisexuality, I had internalized the homophobia that surrounded me; I was conditioned to believe that being not-straight was being ugly and tainted.

When I went to college, though, I had the amazing fortune of meeting people who are vibrantly, unashamedly, boldly proud. One of my best friends is a trans woman and she wears this flag with a stunning grace that inspires me every day. She tells me often of how she has heard people yell terrible transphobic comments to her, and how she has always met them with a smile. “Their words can’t stop me from being me,” she says.

I think I’m still finding my own personal way of expressing my pride. I don’t think I have the emotional strength to smile when my parents or others are making biphobic comments, and I can’t emblazon everything I wear with rainbows or the bi flag, like my friends who are out. But I can start to let go of the internalized homophobia and shame I feel, and see my sexuality for what it is: a beautiful, precious, and pure part of me. And that, I think, is true pride. - @sibilant

| R O N S G I R L F R I D A Y |

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I thought for a bit about what I wanted to say here. I wanted to contribute in support of Pride, but as a cishet person, I’m not sure that my voice is the important one. While I have friends and family in the queer community, I wasn’t there experiencing the struggle or witnessing backlash against someone close to me as Juls did with her brother during the turmoil of the 80’s.

What I think I can contribute is my desire and commitment to be an ally, but also the recognition of the fact that there are times when I will fail, and my desire and commitment to do better when I do fail. To actively monitor and challenge, for example, heteronormative thought processes. I’m much better at this than I was one, five, ten years ago, and I will continue to do better. To that end, part of what Pride means to me is challenging and ultimately ending the idea that cishet anything is the “default” condition. Because it’s not.

Something that has truly been amazing to me has been coming back to the fanfic community after many years away, to see how fanfic has changed (for the better) in terms of inclusivity. There may certainly be a lot of work to do still, but I love the platform that this community -- and the greater fanfic community as a whole -- has given to LGBTQ voices, and how it challenges the “default” through representation of people who deserve to be seen and to take up space. - @RonsGirlFriday

 

| G R U M P Y  C A T |

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to me, apparently pride means telling a guy i've been on and off with for a while that i occasionally like to fuck girls and thinking this will be a thing that we need to talk about but it turns out the guy in question just says i know and we laugh about it and months later celebrate pride together by sharing silly memes. which is kinda huge for me, but i don't like to show it much because i'm cool like that  so yeah, i'm proud to be bi and i'm not afraid to share that with people who are close to me, but still, i tend to expect the worst..and when the worst doesn't happen it makes my dark, cold lil heart be a lil less cold. - @grumpy cat

| S O M E T H I N G  W I C K E D |

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okay so i could say something about being bi but i’m not going to today because we got other shit to talk about. in light of a series of comments made by a certain trans-exclusionary radical feminist i’m gonna talk instead about my father. 

for my entire life i’ve had a front row seat to watch someone go through a transition, going from the hiding makeup and dresses in a box under the bed stage, to coming out, the struggle with names, pronouns, family, work, idiots on the street, to surgery, right through to being a proud woman more glamorous and educated and articulate than i can ever hope to be. and to me that’s pride. it’s the feeling i get when my dad walks into a room, at the age of 62, in a figure hugging dress and a pair of heels and absolutely kills it. it’s the way i feel when she’s talking openly about what she’s gone through, and equally when she doesn’t need to, when people accept without question. i’m proud when someone asks me if this all means i have two mums and i can say no, i’ve got a dad who is female. 

it hasn’t been an easy journey, and for her it’s been a long one. i’m proud that today we’ve got a world where she can be herself, and that others don’t have to wait as long to come out, but there’s still a long way to go. 

recently i’ve started to talk a bit more about what it’s been like growing up with her and to get more vocal about it all, and that makes me a wee bit proud of me too. i’m cis, so i don’t pretend for a second that will ever fully understand what it’s like, but i’ve listened and educated myself and now i’m going to do better to speak out. i’d encourage anyone who has any questions about trans rights, about living with someone in the family or who just wants to understand it all a bit more to reach out, i promise to answer as best i can. - @something wicked

 

 

 

As always, check out these inclusive LGBTQA+ fics written by some of our wonderful authors over on the archives! If you have other fics that you would recommend for their LGBTQA+ content that aren't in this list, please feel free to comment with those links below!

 

kiss each other clean by @facingthenorthwind

pageantry by @crestwood

of all the things that help by @felicis-purpure

What He Wants by @Unwritten Curse

Shared Loneliness by @toomanycurls

to the end of time by @clevernotbrilliant (claireevergreen)

of trolls and nifflers by @just.a.willow.tree

The Dancing Fairy by @magemadi

Odd Weasley Out by @sinnersandsapphics

napalm skies by @grumpy cat

bad habits by @grumpy cat

We, Lawbreaking Citizens by @Rumpelstiltskin

a dream you can touch by @something wicked

the other side by @verses

the brightest pearl by @sibilant

love in tea leaves by @Crimson Quill

desperate measures by @poppunkpadfoot

i shout the lightning by @sibilant

the table by @crowsb4bros

a body from the balcony series by @poppunkpadfoot

What Landon and Peters Missed by @sinnersandsapphics

Ace of Hearts by @ImaRavenclaw

Forget-Me-Not by @Lost_Robin

Working by @magemadi

Aziraphale Learns to Hug by @facingthenorthwind (dropbear)

The Blaze by @CheekyTorah-Lex

Good News Comes in Threes by @pookha

to dwell on dreams by @Stella Blue

A Lockdown Tale by @Ravenclaw_scientist

reading the room by @facingthenorthwind and @poppunkpadfoot

The Sacred Twenty-Eight by @Ravenclaw_scientist

Figuratively Speaking by @Queer in Knitted Things

 

We also got a recommendation for the book Red, White, and Royal Blue+ by Casey McQuiston, and you can read @abhorsen.'s +book review blog post and her +blog post about identifying with the book as well!

 

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^credits:

^{graphics: deni
intro: deni
fic recs: facingthenorthwind, grumpy cat, magemadi, belgian quaffle, abhorsen., noelle zingarella, ronsgirlfriday, something wicked, sibilant
pride stories: juls, madi, sarah, melanie, shreya, kris, deni
draft: madi, deni}