It’s hard to know what to say about Pride month in a year that feels anything but celebratory. On what feels like an hourly basis, the MAGA administration seems to find new and awful ways to target queer communities. Even in places like our beloved NYC, the birthplace of the movement for “gay” rights, the rights of queer and trans communities are being threatened and made more tenuous every day.
And yet, June is Pride month, and if there’s one thing us queers know how to do it’s how to celebrate, and celebrate BIG! So while some Pride celebrations remain scaled down this year because corporate sponsors continue to worship at the altar of cowardice, even deep in the throes of the onslaught of attacks against us, the spirit and energy of Pride remains unshakeable.
The New York City Pride theme for 2026 is “Pride for All,” evoking a sense of community and togetherness that many of us are so desperately in need of, especially at this moment. The Queer community has always been skilled at casting a wide net, inviting anyone who has ever felt marginalized, stigmatized, ostracized or in any other way “othered” because of their gender or sexuality under the big, bold, and beautiful rainbow flag, that symbolizes the idea that there is room for us all, and all are welcome. And in this way, “Pride for All” is a theme that continues and celebrates that history.
Intrinsic to the history and struggle of the Queer community is the idea that we should all be free to live our lives as publicly and proudly as our cis, straight counterparts. Whether this be the fight for marriage equality, or the fight to have legal rights as parents, or the fight for life saving, gender-affirming medical care, the goal and message have always been clear: We’re here! We’re queer! Get used to it!* And no group of people love to take to the streets with a megaphone more than NYC queers. But in recent months, as hospitals, medical centers and medical providers that provide care for trans youth have been threatened into shutting their doors or facing imprisonment, the shouting has gotten a whole lot quieter.
Fifty-six years ago, all the way back in 1970, the venerated and iconic James Baldwin wrote in his essay, “An Open Letter to my Sister, Miss Angela Davis” the following words:
One way of gauging a nation’s health, or of discerning what it really considers to be its interests—or to what extent it can be considered as a nation as distinguished from a coalition of special interests—is to examine those people it elects to represent or protect it. One glance at the American leaders (or figure-heads) conveys that America is on the edge of absolute chaos, and also suggests the future to which American interests, if not the bulk of the American people, appear willing to consign the blacks.
Swap then-president Richard Nixon for our current, so-called commander-in-chief, and expand “blacks” to also include the Queer community, women, immigrants, all non-Christians, neurodivergent people, people with disabilities, Science, the Constitution, human decency…and he’s talking about where we are, right now, in 2026.
Some people feel it’s wrong to celebrate when so many are suffering, and certainly celebrating in these times will not (and should not) feel completely care-free. But celebrating our joy, our love, our communities, and our literal and figurative lives in the most unapologetic way possible, is the only way we will make it through. And we will, without a doubt, make it through.
Pride for All. All for Pride. See you in the streets!
Toward liberation and joy,
Nicole Davis, LCSW, SEP
Clinical Director at the Gender & Sexuality Therapy Center
*For those perhaps too young to know, this chant was first coined by the group Queer Nation in the early 1990’s.