Haley (left), me (center), and Christyn (right) taking a selfie together
June is Pride Month. And there’s something liberating about celebrating with a simple selfie.
When we take selfies, we are ignoring the heteropatriarchal gaze of our society and solely focusing on the things we love about ourselves.
We get to put on makeup and wear clothes that make us feel confident. We don’t have to worry about what outsiders will think of us. When taking selfies with friends, we get to celebrate ourselves in a safe way surrounded by those we trust.
Selfies with friends
Below are some selfies I took with my friends Christyn, Haley, and Thomas. Christyn is a bisexual trans woman, Haley is a bisexual polyamorous woman, and Thomas is a gay demisexual man. I identify as bisexual as well.
From left to right: Christyn, me, Thomas, and Haley
‘For the longest time I denied who I was, and just covered that up, even to myself,’ Christyn tells me. ‘It’s so empowering to own my identity and share it, and Pride is a big part of that.’
‘Having grown up Evangelical, I often find it very easy to feel guilty about things related to my sexuality,’ Haley explains. ‘Pride, for me, is an opportunity to celebrate the ways in which we’re all romantically and sexually different — it’s a reminder that my identity is valid, and that it’s OK for me to be myself.’
Christyn, myself, and Haley
‘As someone who identifies as both gay and demisexual, I’ve never been one for big statements,’ Thomas says. ‘Pride has become – for me at least – an opportunity to show not just my solidarity, but affirm by place within the LGBTQ community. We come in all shapes and sizes, and that’s perhaps the most beautiful thing of all.’
Thomas and I
Pride Popsockets
For Pride month, Popsockets (the company which makes pop-out grips to assist in your selfie game) is donating 10% of the proceeds from their Pride Collection to the San Francisco LGBT Center. The mission of the SF LGBT Center is to ‘to connect [San Francisco’s] diverse community to opportunities, resources and each other to achieve our vision of a stronger, healthier, and more equitable world for LGBT people and our allies.’
