What a beautiful tribute to Pride, Rand. Reading, I couldn't help but recall my own very first Pride in 1990. I was young. I had been mostly closeted for a very long time. I had so much residual shame eating at me.

My very first Pride helped start to burn away that shame and replace it with dignity. So, every year, when I hear people complaining that Pride is "debauchery" or something along those lines, I bristle.

You know what?

Before I attended my first Pride, I attended my first Mardi Gras in New Orleans. Talk about debauchery! Anybody who's been there knows exactly what I'm talking about.

You wouldn't really know it from press reports, though. The media don't seem to focus on that, do that?

(Even though it's a Catholic religious festival.)

Pride is so important for so many of us. Thank you for so clearly explaining why.