June has always been an exciting month for LGBTQ family and friends. It's supposed to be a month to celebrate you and not give in to fear of persecution or worry about those who don't agree with your life choices. At least that's how I perceived it.

This past month everyone has heard about the Orlando shooting at Pulse and the lives lost there. A lot of things spiraled out of this and depending on which side you may be it could differ from either a platform to support your Islamophobia or a cry for change in recognizing that this hate crime is not the first time we've lost a group of individuals in this country. As millennials, most of us have become desensitized to mass shootings as they happen on a daily basis, sometimes multiple times. So when the news about Orlando broke, in all honesty, I would have probably said 'here we go again' because the splashing of 'X amount of people dead after a shooter opened gunfire at X place' is more common than articles on the presidential election.

The thing that really scared me about Pulse is that it was a gay club during Pride month. My entire friend group has been made up of LGBTQ people my entire life. Most of my friends would talk about going to clubs here in Minneapolis that were LGBTQ friendly and I myself have been making plans to go. However, this outright attack on the LGBTQ community makes it easy to fear these usually safe and protective environments. And you begin to think about the what ifs and remember that these people could have been any one of your friends.

Then there is the fact that this happened in Pride month where most LGBTQ people are frequenting these places more often to share the love and acceptance that might be hard to find in other times of the year depending on their personal situations. By violating this right of safety, the community will be changed for forever and could potentially turn this festive month into something sour.

Now you could talk about prevention of this through gun control but I know that over half of the people who will read this will become outraged at even thought of it. Because protecting guns and potentially stopping a killer from committing more acts such as this is unfathomable to think about. We'd rather think about the people killed and send our thoughts and prayers because that's much more effective and doesn't take your toys away, right?

So rather than turning this into a debate, I want this to be a reminder to everyone who is hurting or scared in these final days of Pride month. Pride is a month of commemoration to the Stonewall Riots which was a violent stand against police officers who incriminated LGBTQ people in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The parade itself is a tradition that started as a march where the LGBTQ people would dress as evocatively as possible to showcase their identity and to loudly scream that they weren't afraid of who they were and that they weren't going to be pushed around by anyone who would try and stop them from being themselves.

Knowing that this started out as a political act is crucial. Since then this month has evolved to be an outpouring of love within the community and stand against any opposition that the LGBTQ community may face. With the attack in Orlando this year, it would be easy to let this celebration turn into a somber time, however, fight against this instinct and make this year as loud as ever. Do not let the fear silence you and make sure you continue to spread the love. The Orlando shooter tried to make us scared and if you let him win then you're letting everything that the people in the nightclub fought for die with them. Unite together together and remember that this month was originally a protest against unsafe practices in the community and see that this year it very well could be the exact same thing. You have this chance to show the world you are not afraid of yourself. This is the one place that is sacred and don't let anyone tear it apart. Get out there and remember those 59 victims and fight. Because they don't have that opportunity anymore. This Pride month will be about love and strength because that's all the LGBTQ community knows about. They may have tried to silence us with their hate, but all they've done is add tinder to a rapidly growing fire. And I can guarantee that the ashes made will birth a new era very shortly.

Want to contact local representatives? Here are some helpful links below.

http://www.senate.gov/senators/contact

http://www.house.gov/representatives/find

http://www.hrc.org