Rainbows and Thunderstorms

Pride. What comes to mind from the term? Rainbows, bright colours, sparkles, etc.? Well, it's more than just that for a lot of us. The struggles our community faces, not just homophobia but also the internal dilemma, is often unheard of due to its lack of trendiness on the internet. Growing up in a conservative family never helped me discover myself. I never learned about gays as a child, and the first time I did hear the term was as slang used by my classmates in school for being effeminate. I heard the word used for myself during my schooling years as I am quite feminine, and it was expected then. I always knew that I'm attracted to boys but I suppressed those feelings due to a lack of awareness of the community and a constant feeling of the need for secrecy on the topic. I learned about lgbtq+ from shows and movies. Coming to terms with my sexuality wasn't easy, but the exposure to the community through various mediums helped. Self-acceptance was always very tough. How can you love yourself when you are supposedly unworthy of love? There is no answer to that because it's a process of self-learning and improvement. I advise you to have a simple change of accepting yourself and others around us and make it a little easy for all of us around here. If you want others to accept you for being who you are, you should first accept and love yourself; how can you expect love from others if you can't love yourself first? A little acceptance can change everything!