pride

It's not about you.It has nothing to do with an affront on you or your way of life - nor is it an attack on your moral sensibilities.It's just that you've told me all my life that we're sinners. You've told us, as we've grown up, that God hates us; that we're not worthy of walking your streets.And so we grew up believing that yes, we're disgusting. And yes, God hates us; wants nothing but sadness from us; has given us challenges that are too great for any person to take one. And it's not enough for you to leave us alone. For you, it's offense that we're even alive.And for many of us, it became too much to handle. We escaped - either into our minds or out of this world entirely.And some of us were blessed to find a community. A group of people just like us who knew what we felt. A group of people who had also spent their entire lives living in fear that one day it would all come crashing down.And we've grown up. We've come into our own. We've realized that we, too, are created in the Image of God, no matter how our brains are wired.And so we'll walk with you on your streets. We don't want to walk against you. We'd like for you to join us. We'd like for you to acknowledge that we, too, are created with a spark of the Divine. We'd like for you to realize what we've gone through; how hard we've worked just to feel normal.And we'd like for you to understand that when we get there; when we finally come to the point in our lives where we stop the fight and begin to look at ourselves as we truly are - as human beings with the same desires and needs as everyone else - that we can finally feel alive. That's why we march.To celebrate that we've survived in this world.To celebrate the sanctity of humanity.To show others that they, too, are not solitary abominations.God has created us all, in God's own image, and we, too, are good.