October is LGBTQ+ History month. Our history is a unique one, because it isn't passed generation to generation in the same nuclear family, but rather, generation to generation in the broader community. Every queer community has elders who have experienced much; each has a growing class of excited teens ready to get to college and meet other people like themselves.

As we continue to petition schools in New York State to honor the LGBTQ+ community by requiring our history be taught, we must also share stories amongst ourselves, watch queer cinema, read Baldwin and Morrison, quote Audre Lorde and mourn Harvey Milk. Just because my mom didn't sit me on her knee and tell me about a legendary figure who was assassinated within his first year in office for being an openly gay man doesn't make it any less important as a guiding light for the queer man I seek to become.

We have heroes in those history books, and perhaps finding and uplifting those role models for yourself, and even more importantly for the kids, is a salve to reach for every time someone tries to make you feel less than because you happen to be lucky enough to be born in the LGBTQ+ family.

I think October needs to be LGBTQ+ history month for us all; please do yourself the favor to look up a queer historical figure, or listen to a great queer history podcast, and be reminded of the deep roots we have as revolutionaries in every age and place. Once you realize how long we've been here, how much we've already overcome, and how much we've contributed to the world, it becomes a lot harder to find anything but PRIDE in who you are and the common history we share.

Nathaniel Gray
Executive Director
Pride Center of the Capital Region