I was hesitant to change my profile picture or cover image for Pride Month because I’ve never done it before and I didn’t want it to look like I was being part of the crowd and doing it just because it’s the hip cool thing to do. However, I changed my mind after seeing some people use the opportunity of others adding rainbow frames around their profile pics or sharing other rainbow-related images as a way to attack, preach to, or otherwise diminish their brothers and sisters. That’s why I chose to change my profile and cover images to rainbow-themed images.
To me personally, a gay Latter-day Saint, the rainbow is the perfect symbol of God’s love for me and all of his children that all will be well just as it was to Noah and his family. It is a visual symbol from God that he will keep his promises, even if I don’t understand how. That may not be why everyone else posts the rainbow, but for me it is why I choose to embrace this symbol even in its form of LGBTQ pride.
This week, I watched an episode of one of my favorite shows with a choir of nurses from New York. It was a racially diverse group, and they sang so beautifully and have been going through so much over the last year with the pandemic. It struck me so hard in the middle of their performance that many members of that choir are discriminated against, demeaned, or treated lesser just because of their appearance. It pained me to think that such hate exists in our very modern and developed society.
I want to call all of us to action to do better at not just saying we wouldn’t discriminate or that we feel bad when instances of hate occur, but that we should actively, as we’ve been encouraged by men I believe to be prophets of God, to root out these terrible behaviors and learn to love and embrace those who are different. We need to call out the discrimination when we see it. We need to be a part of the solution to help our spiritual siblings feel loved and accepted not condemned and outcast. This applies to hate and discrimination in all its forms. I will strive to do better myself.