Pride in the Tribe

Living in a large city where it is easy to be myself, have my relationships honored, and frequently mingle with fellow LGBT family members is something I have almost come to take for granted. However, I remember that there was a time when I was in the closet for work reasons. I lived then where the only place to meet my tribe was in a bar that could only be entered through the door off an alley. In that southern city, the community gathered for its pride celebration on a Mississippi riverboat ride. At midnight.

It was during those early years of Gayness that I found it so important to discover there was a huge community of people like me, not just the few that gathered at "The Hole" on Saturday nights. I found that attending a Gay Pride Parade was just the thing to build my self-image and encourage me to be who I am.

By David Loofbourrow

Author, minister and techie - David Loofbourrow writes about spirituality, personal growth and Gay issues.  Careers have included fundamentalist-to-liberal minister, counseling as a trained psychologist, educator, software designer /analyst, and actor. He writes business communication, fiction and non-fiction. David believes that people are only limited by their imagination, which is profoundly unlimited.
His professional website is Tutti Vivo Media Communications and he blogs at Elegant Faith.