It had been a year since I had fully come out to everyone. I came out my freshman year of college, a huge step for me as one could read in this article. I finally attended my first ever pride festival on October 1, 2016. I wore a backward cap, long rainbow socks and my Demi Lovato “What’s wrong with being confident?” t-shirt. I had mixed feelings about going, I was nervous and stressed. What if it wasn’t everything I had built it up to be?

I drove downtown. It was packed with cars and I ended up parking near the top of a parking deck. I remember driving by and seeing rainbow flags waving in the air. My heart started to race. I was exhilarated. I was immediately welcomed with a rainbow bead necklace and a mini rainbow pride flag when I had arrived at the festival. I see an array of colors all around me with people sporting different pride flags within the LGBTQ community. I didn’t realize how much I was smiling until I could feel my face start to hurt from being so happy.

There was a mini-marching band with folks dressed up in bright neon colors, teenagers were dancing with their friends to the music of the band and I just stood there in awe of how happy I felt. After years of being in the closet and hating myself, I had finally reached a point of being happy with who I am. Seeing individuals as young as eight or 12-years-old dancing with their pride flags while being proud of who they are gave me hope for future generations. It made me realize just how much had changed since I was their age. Seeing these kids so self-assured and out made me see that we have made a difference. Yes, we still have a long way to go before we reach full equality as a community, but we have also come a long way.

I continued to circle around the pride festival and there I saw it. The bisexual pride flag. I went up to the booth and bought the flag. The man working there was so nice and helped me tie it around my neck as a cape. “So, do you want to be a semi-bi or a super-bi?” The man at the booth asked me.

“Super-bi?” I answered, very confused.

Then he asked a similar question to others in the booth. They all, of course, answered that they wanted to be super. He had us stand beside each other and lift our arms out super heroes. Then we ran straight forward with our arms out and pride flags gusting behind us. Everyone around us cheered and screamed for us as we ran around the festival. I couldn’t stop laughing because I was so unbelievably cheerful and I just wasn’t used to this much attention. Finally, we reached the booth again and the lap of being super had finished.

I looked over to the person beside me, we were both completely out of breath. We all smiled at each other and laughed. We cheered on other super-bis as they ran around the festival.

Unfortunately, there were also protestors. Extremely religious individuals who thought they should show up to a pride event and condemn everyone there. One man had a shirt reading, “Repent or Perish.” This same man called me a “lesbian sodomite” who “was going to burn in the hellfire.” I couldn’t help but laugh, especially since I was wearing the bisexual pride flag. I knew he probably didn’t understand what my flag meant other than gay.

A couple years ago, what he said to me would’ve made me cry and never want to be out. But I have grown so much since then. I blocked out all their hate and negativity by focusing on how much more love and compassion was held at this festival. There were even several churches decked out in rainbow gear and celebrating pride with us. Why let a few protestors ruin my day?

Sadly, they did ruin others days. I comforted several young LGBTQ individuals hurt by their words and assured them they are valid. I will never understand why people choose to be filled with hatred and find a pleasure in tearing other people down. Love is love and people deserve to be their true selves. I don’t see how why people choose to hate when they could love instead.

Later on, a few musicians played loud jazz right in front of the protestors to drown out their homophobic and transphobic words. Many festival attendants then retaliated with their own posters stating “God is Love” and “God loves all” to show support to the LGBTQ community.

I met so many nice people from my community at this festival and had amazing conversations. I laughed and smiled more than I had in such a long time. I had to leave early because of work. I walked away wearing my pride flag, covered in more rainbow than when I arrived and filled with a satisfaction. For once I wasn’t the other. Within those few hours at the festival, I had been surrounded with people with similar experiences and with people who knew my sexuality was valid. I had met my community and was able to publicly embrace something which I grew up being scared and ashamed of. It was a beautiful feeling and now I can’t wait to go to my next pride festival.