I think it's really important that
the people who are in love with or care about trans individuals
should be able to hold our hands without persecution,
without being teased
from within the community and outside of the community.
Hi, I'm Peppermint
and I'm talking all things Pride
with Attitude magazine.
My first Pride experience was in Wilmington, Delaware.
I'll call it my first official Pride experience
was in Wilmington, Delaware,
where I grew up and went to high school.
And I was very excited.
I got dressed in the same drag outfit
that I had been wearing for over a year
because I only had one.
And we walked down to the town square
and there were no floats.
There was probably about 30 people
wearing rainbow stickers and pins.
And then we all kind of moseyed down the street
and that was my first Pride.
I would say my favourite Pride memory,
first time
I ever walked in the parade and was an actual participant
in the New York City Pride Parade.
Notoriously New York City Pride Parade always
takes place on Pride Sunday, which is the last Sunday in June
to commemorate
the Stonewall Rebellion, which happened on a Sunday.
And I worked at a infamous nightclub called The Tunnel
with a whole bunch of other drag queens on Saturday night
until four or five in the morning.
And that night, we all
had Miss Feathers, drag queen, make us matching outfits
out of the cheapest rainbow spandex anyone could find.
And we had, you know,
got our hair up and got everything together,
and we were going to be in the parade.
And our
boss at the club at the time had rented a fabulous, like,
convertible Porsche or some kind of sports car.
And we were so excited.
We're going to get to ride in the Porsche down the parade.
And we get there
and all of the go-go boys are in the car.
And taking up every
seat in the parade so they can wave to their fans.
And all of the drag entertainers
had to walk in our heels
down, I mean, and this is miles long,
a lot of people might not understand
how long the parade is in New York City.
It is miles and miles and miles long and probably
like eight miles, which is not that bad.
But in your heels, it's a different story.
It just it feels
horrendous.
And so by the time we got to the Fifth Avenue turn,
we were hobbled, honey,
looking like zombies coming down the street.
But then we got into that little alleyway
over on Christopher Street, and all of a sudden,
all of the energies kind of brought us back to life again,
which was wonderful.
And so that was one of my favourite times.
Miss Maybelline, Maybelline, Maybelline,
was wearing a matching outfit.
She was so inspired, she completely went stark
naked, took off every ounce of clothing,
and she had her pubic hair
dyed to match the fabric.
And we were like, "Oh my God, girl."
And so that was a favourite moment in time for me.
My main connection to Pride is an opportunity to
actually celebrate, speak about, learn about,
and it's more about the actions during that time.
My connection to the community
and my transness and my womanness
I had to sort of piecemeal through.
And so I cobbled together from all the love and support,
which is certainly the spirit of Pride,
from all of the people around me.
And that empowered me, enabled me to go
to my first parade, to go to my first march,
and to go, you know, participate in all these fabulous things.
I guess my last message to anybody in the queer
community is please make space for
the trans folks around you.
And in our community,
not only for the individuals,
but for the people that they love
and the people who love them, their romantic partners.
We have an epidemic
in the States
and around the world of black
trans women and trans women of colour
being murdered at an alarming rate.
And many of those murders,
although under investigated,
are at the hands of our romantic partners.
And so I think it's really important
that the people who are in love with or care about
trans individuals
should be able to
hold our hands without persecution,
without being teased
from within the community and outside of the community.
Believe it or not, it happens on all ends.
And so that's my message to folks in the community
and to people outside of the community,
please, please, please don't assume that
the person near you isn't queer or gay
or lesbian or bi or pansexual or non-binary.
Please just try to have less assumptions about the people
we encounter because
you already have connected
with someone who's queer, but you just don't know it.
Thanks for watching.
Be sure to check out the rest
of Attitude's Pride at Home
and have a wonderful,
splendid Pride.
And so that's,
I think it certainly is in the spirit of Pride,
celebrating one's self, feeling free and free and empowered.
But, you know, I do want to say,
for some people, going to their first Pride might not be
connected to the first time they came out necessarily
or their first introduction to the queer community.
I think participating in Pride is something for everyone,
whether you identify as queer or not.
I think that's the point.