Moreover, I have pride in the struggle for equality that has been indicative of the glbt community throughout the last century. Countless sacrifices have been made to ensure that basic human rights (which includes the right to love and the right to dream) should be afforded to all people. While the glbt community is often portrayed as promiscuous, unethical, selfish or scandalous, I feel proud to associate myself with a community that has made enormous personal sacrifice for justice in our society.

Finally, for me pride is also a reflection of the importance of being honest. Over the past year I have spent much time reflecting, reading and talking about sexuality. A wise friend commented that society is so sex-obsessed because it is so very uncomfortable with sexuality itself. Sexuality is about more than what happens when the lights go out. Sexuality is about more than what you do with your genitalia. Sexuality is a function of humanity and must be understood as intertwined with our emotions, our actions and even our spirituality. I take pride in the glbt community for being honest about the "humanness" of sexuality and for allowing a more frank and real dialogue on what it means to be sexual to occur.

Pride is bittersweet. While it is a celebration of my own journey and the journey of those who have come before me and will come after me, it is also a chance to allow free spirits to soar in a world where the heavy burdens of discrimination still root us to the ground. Pride is an ability for us also to realize that men in Egypt are still arrested for their own identity, that children in many parts of North America are denied the rightful connection to their parents because of the love they share with someone of the same sex and that innocent victims are still violently attacked because of their identity.

I am proud, in part, because so many of the people in my life who I love and care about are still not proud of the whole me. I take pride in my journey, in my community's journey, in the honest dialogue about sexuality that this pride creates and to make up for the lack of pride others I love do not have. So, throughout the mobs of people in the parades, the parties and the protests lies hundreds of thousands of reasons to be proud. I wish everyone a happy, safe and fun Pride season!