Conversations about June being worldwide Pride month was a leading conversation in the office this week and it made me think about how accessible it has become for us to show up for the community and be allies. The power of lifting up and showcasing the stories of LGBTQ+ has made Pride the ideal model for other groups to follow in the hope of gap closing, justice and inclusiveness.
It might have been because Pride was celebrated virtually in 2020 that I found myself watching TV shows like Glee, Pose and The Assassination Of Gianni Versace - all created by Ryan Murphy. Or it might be because I’ve started to act again - which is another topic for another post when I share the TV and film work I'm doing. For whatever reason - or actually no reason needed - I noticed how Ryan Murphy has become the ultimate poster child of inclusive storytelling. I think he’s done an incredible job bringing marginalised voices to the masses with his visually bright and bigger than life TV shows.
It pains us to think about people around the world facing violence and inequality because of their DNA - how they love and how they look. Sexual orientation and gender identity are integral aspects of ourselves and I feel blessed to live in a time where there's hope and we witness transparency being born. As an actress and a woman I have such a big place in my heart for inclusive storytelling.
Now that we’ve lived through the epidemic bringing us all closer with inclusive virtual events - it’s so inspiring to see a variety of Pride events - everything from happy hours and concerts to workshops and learning opportunities. I can see these important conversations expanding and I think we can all learn better how to accommodate trans people and their stories. For example in sports - which could be another million dollar idea for Ryan Murphy. Until the TV show Pose, trans women had next to no representation on television. Their stories had been marginalised be a punchline or a victim in a crime scene in film and television.
During the height of the pandemic when our livelihood counted on technology and I worried about how we were isolating ourselves, we were actually in the middle of a process of community-building. People from different groups and countries integrated. It wasn’t until after Iceland opened up again that I realized the beautiful connections people were making via video conference platforms and webinars.
For this year’s Pride I’m celebrating the lessons we learned and how this era provided us with a roadmap to build new meaningful connections, hope of gap closing, and the power of wildly impactful storytelling.
