It's Pride Month, which means it's time for our LGBTQ+ friends to celebrate themselves.

Pride is an annual, month-long celebration that entails rainbows, parades and parties across the globe. June is the perfect occasion for anyone in the LGBTQ+ community to share why they're proud to be a part of it and to thank the activists who came before them, the ones who paved the way for gay marriage and gender-neutral bathrooms.

I am all about the celebration of a marginalized group and those who have fought to make sure those voices have a space to be heard in this world, however, I think some people have gotten to a point where they are using Pride as an excuse to party and get decked out in rainbows.

Pride is not for cisgender heterosexuals who identify as "allies" just so they can say they went.

Pride is for the genderqueer.

Pride is for the homosexual.

Pride is for the asexual.

Pride is for the pansexual.

Pride is for the transgender.

Pride is for the non-binary.

Pride is for the bisexual.

Pride is for so many people, but it is not for allies.

The only time, in my opinion, an ally should go to Pride is when they are there to support a friend, significant other or family member who is participating in Pride. Sometimes it is scary to go to a large event like that for the first time where you don't have any familiar faces. Sometimes you need moral support, and if the only people you have to give you that are allies, I believe they should be welcomed.

But allies or cisgender heterosexuals should be going to Pride in swarms.

Pride is a sacred place for members of the LGBTQ+ community, and tainting it with our heteronormative allies is only further emphasizing why we need Pride at all. Let the LGBTQ+ community have Pride to themselves. Let them make it their own. We have marginalized them enough. We should not marginalize them in a space that they themselves created.

Just once, let them lead the way, and if they want you to follow and join in, then go for it. Until then, be happy with just watching.