It is Pride Month and we are already seeing hostile rhetoric on Facebook and Instagram increase only a few days in. We are becoming more polarized not on lifestyle choices, sexuality, and gender identity, but a widening gap in civility, morality, and othering actions. This is how democracies are destroyed. We are not celebrating our 250 th birthday of our radical achievement of independence from Great Britain this 4 th of July, but rather our demise. There will be parades, barbeques, families gatherings, and fireworks. But before July is the wonderful month of June that congers up graduations, baseball, picnics, Father’s Day, weddings, and days at the beach. The glorious kick-off to summer for the last 56 years has also included Pride parades and events. These are festive, joyous, and inclusive events celebrated across the world, starting in NYC in 1970 to commemorate a terrible day in history for our LGBTQ+ neighbors in New York City in 1969 where an unlawful police raid at a gay bar resulted in unjustified arrests of humans just trying to enjoy life.
You can cling to crumbling notions that we are still the land of the free and the home of the brave, and rage against Trans people on Facebook for wanting equal rights. You can let cognitive dissonance lead, and you can cut off relationships with people who challenge your perspective and reality. I suspect most of MAGA will continue to do so. so. If you believe I am nuts, you can stop reading and choose to respectfully carry on. But if you are the least bit curious and want to know how and why you can change your mind without being accused of turning into a “snowflake” and still maintain your conservative/Republican belief system then I invite you on a drone ride with me.
I am going to take you on a metaphorical ride to help you zoom out of your perspective to a more global, collective, and communal one that has room for differences of opinions, where healthy discourse still exists, grows, and is nurtured.
Caution: This drone ride takes you to a view where all people are welcomed, appreciated, and celebrated FOR their diversity. Can you handle it? Well then, let’s buckle up and rise together!
On the ground we are living in two simultaneous realities or possibly more where everyone thinks the “other” is nuts and extreme in their beliefs. For the purpose of keeping this ride simple, we will just say that depending on what news outlet you listen to this is how you may be experiencing life as Pat Republican or Pat Democrat. Notice I am opting to simplify by illustrating a binary explanation, even though this voter recognizes that political belief is multifaceted and nuanced and is made up of many identities than a simple binary paradigm. Alright, we are almost ready for lift off. Lastly, please understand that the algorithm of your social media skews you to your preference as well, leaving you with a more and more biased viewpoint. So, your neighbor, friend, or family member who leans the political opposite of you is not reading the same news or fake news stories as you. Social media is rampant with fake news deployed by political operatives “as a calculated weapon of psychological warfare, utilizing coordinated disinformation campaigns to manipulate public opinion, undermine rival candidates, and polarize voters. These networks rely on artificial intelligence. Hyper-partisan counter media sites, and targeted social media algorithms to bypass traditional journalistic factchecking and shape election narratives” (Nature, July 11, 2025).
Alright, let’s get up in the air, please buckle your mouths and hold on to your hats. The purpose of widening your viewpoint is to see the entire political landscape and free you from the constraints of your particular bubble which includes some deliberate choices of yours, media-outlet specific influence, and the disinformation the algorithms push to the top of your social media feeds. The system is designed to cause this polarization between you and people you would otherwise peacefully break bread with. A recent discussion between childhood friends revealed how different of an interpretation and presentation of the “facts” can be on social media and cable networks depending on whether you self-identify as Republican and/or Conservative or Democrat and/or Liberal. This creates a divide in understanding before you even open your mouth to have a discussion. It requires curiosity, emotional maturity, self-regulation, and critical thinking skills to discern when you may be being covertly manipulated.
Let’s zoom out to the ethers of a world nearly extinct to a time before the news became heavily editorialized. My journalism training in high school and college included a sharp distinction between editorials and news articles. A news story was just the facts derived from asking the classic five W and one H questions: Who? What? Where? When? Why? and How? No opinion. News articles were composed on purely verifiable facts that allowed the reader to then form an opinion about those facts. This does not happen on Fox News. This does not always happen on CNN. I am of the opinion that most cable and network news stray from this strict journalism formula of the past more than 50 percent of their time, and yet they do not position it as editorializing.
It is important to always sort fact from opinion as that is the foundation on which critical thinking thrives. If you can consume facts without any sparkle and shine than you can take that raw data at face value and interpret it against your personal world view, experiences, upbringing, and socio-economic demographics and form an opinion that is ever-changing because you and the world are ever- changing.
One should change their mind and opinion when presented with new information that clarifies or brings a fuller picture than you previously had. Changing your opinion based on additional information does not indicate that you are suddenly “flip-flopping” or “flaking”, nor do they suggest you are “unpatriotic” or a “hater” if you are unhappy that campaign promises have not been delivered. These are all good indicators you are engaging in critical thinking.
Alright descending where we can hover over the country as a whole and see how the states are represented by red, blue, and purple concentrations of voters. We see how being in a red or blue state will influence how you perceive government funded programming like education, welfare, Medicaid, SNAP benefits, and libraries. “According to analyses of federal aid and tax balances, the trends highlight the following dynamics:
- Federal Dependency: Reports by groups like MoneyGeek indicate that many states relying the most on federal funding are conservative strongholds, including states like West Virginia, Mississippi, Kentucky, and Alabama (Nonprofit Quarterly and Visual Capitalist).
- State vs. Federal Programs: While blue states typically offer more generous and expensive state-funded safety net programs (such as Medicaid, Medicare, and food stamps) due to lower average incomes and larger rural populations (Brookings and Nonprofit Quarterly).
- Economic and Structural Drivers: Higher reliance on federal aid in these states is not always due to welfare spending alone. Many red states benefit heavily from agricultural subsidies, and a large population of retirees, all of which bring insignificant federal funding (Reddit).
Now, if we zoom into any given community throughout the United States, you can see how we are not all paying the same price at the gas pump that has increased for all of us since the Iran War began. This happened when the Iraq War commenced as well. I was in South Florida last week paying about $4.09 per gallon in Deerfield Beach, Florida. This week I am in Ashburn, GA and I have seen a gallon as low as $3.59. My friend in Santa Cruz, California is paying between $5.82-$6.20 per gallon, verified by the Sacramento Bee.
So, It is easy to deduct that we are not impacted the same in our country economically by political- influenced events that cause inflation and in some instances price gouging. No single piece of legislation affects Americans equally. The Affordable Care Act is a primary example where few benefited at the cost of many. My friend was able to get health insurance for the first time as an adult in her forties because of the Affordable Care Act. I was thrilled for her and yet my cost became so unaffordable I let go of my health insurance. Sometimes this is what progress looks like, sadly. This kind of vast difference of imbalance and impact also makes people angry and in one case homicidal with the assignation of UnitedHealthcare CEO, Brian Thompson. A tragedy for sure, but he is ultimately responsible for the many deaths of clients whose care claims were denied. We have to regain our humanity so that all deaths are seen as tragic losses, not just CEOs and famous people, but ordinary teachers, nurses, janitors, and soldiers. Every life is a valuable life. Every life is worth celebrating, and that is what Pride is a celebration of life that was born from a demand for justice. Pride commemorates the 1969 Stonewall Riots in New York City, which served as a major catalyst for the LGBQT+ civil rights movement. In response to an unjust police raid at the gay bar at the Stonewall Inn, six days of protest commenced. You can learn more about this watershed moment in LGBQT+ history at the Stonewall Veterans’ Association.
On the first anniversary of the Stonewall rebellion in June 1970, the very first gay pride parade was held in Manhattan and since then, millions of LGBQT+ pride marches, parades, picnics, parties, festivals, and symposia have taken place, and June has been declared LGBQT+ Pride Month. The Stonewall Inn is the first LGBQT+ national landmark. Celebrating the diversity of humanity and sexual identity is the vibe of these celebrations and are inclusive events of all people. You can be straight and participate in the fun of Pride parades and events. Offer mom and dad hugs to people who lost their parents and families when they came out to them. Gay and trans teenagers are at a high risk for homelessness, human trafficking, and suicide because of family rejection.
Our current administration is capitalizing on the human frailty to blame someone for their troubles. Pride was born out of their unfair treatment by the NYC Police for simply existing. They arrested people on questionable charges, not unlike what ICE is doing now. I don’t understand why homophobia exists. I have gay cousins and trans friends, and their sexual identity has no bearing on my love for them. It is as arbitrary as their eye color to me. Yet, I recognize they can be very unsafe in some neighborhoods and amongst some people. But here is the point of this drone ride: if you support the mistreatment of other people, if you think some people are undeserving basic human and civil rights because of who they are, than don’t be surprised when the government decides who you are is a threat and they try to control how you live your life, take away your right to vote, to marry who you love, and take away your livelihood. I just met a young straight man from Michigan who lost his livelihood from the Big Beautiful Bill. He went from an hourly 40 hour week to a flat rate as an RV tech, which means his income went from $6K per month to $300 in December and $300 in January. He relocated to Georgia where he could be guaranteed a 40-hour week regardless of the flow of work. What we support today becomes precedent and a landslide that can sweep us all up.
My America is made better by diversity. Diversity and inclusion are what make this country great. We are a stew of immigrants, Native American culture, LGBQT+, multi-racial, multi-cultural, multi-religious, and the nonreligious. This is the American culture and legacy. You are entitled to not like people and have your opinions as long as you are not causing harm to others when their opinion is different from yours. Pride is a reminder that we are all deserving of fair treatment and the pursuit of happiness. I will be in Toronto for their Pride celebrations decked out in rainbow gear offering mom hugs. I hope you can put your fear aside and at least do no harm to your LGBQT+ neighbors this month and all months. Your drone ride is over, please go in peace and let irrational fear and hate go.