Sometimes being one of the public faces of our community has its ups and downs.

On the downside it means that Pride Season - especially June - is a super-busy month for me.  This past June, I had 18 separate events over 30 days.  This included two flag-raisings, five Pridefests, three panel talks, a couple of trainings and more, on top of my normal workload of running support meetings, editing newsletters and (oh yeah), my day job.  Pride season is like a marathon and like all long races it can be tiring just as much as it can be joyful. 

One of those events fell into the latter category and was a pure pleasure.  I was honored to be nominated and subsequently recognized as one of the "influential women" in the Lehigh Valley.  Pretty cool!

One of the activities around that was taking part in a photo shoot with the other four honorees.  All of them are truly beautiful and capable cisgender women and I was definitely a little intimidated by the prospect of the photoshoot.  I am happy to say that everyone there was amazing and made me feel so comfortable.  I had a great day getting to know these people and it reaffirmed my belief that there are more good people out there than bad ones.  You just have to give them a chance. 

Of course, there is the other side of the coin and I had another "first" in June.  I was publicly called-out as a "groomer."  This happened after a public event where a protester was present.  I woke up the next morning to find that they had posted the "groomer" accusation (amongst other hateful things) on my social media account.  Needless to say, I blocked them and removed their comments from my account.  I subsequently had another incident from a well-known national anti-trans activist.  It’s not fun when people try to ruin your reputation.

The good news is that when I mentioned these issues to others I was surrounded by nothing but love and Community.  Many folks – including many of the women mentioned above - called and texted to check-in on me.

So, what is the moral of the story?  If there is one, it is to remember that for all of the "bad" that is happening out there, there are people who will accept you and who care for you.  

Even when you are having a bad day or a stressful month your chosen family and friends will have your back.  You never know where you will find a new friend, ally, or chosen family member – as long as you are willing to keep the door open.  

These are stressful times for our Community and I hope you have these types of people in your life.  If you don't, a great place to start is at one of our Renaissance support group meetings.  Why not give it a try!

By the way, you can pick up a copy of the August issue of Lehigh Valley Style magazine to check out all the shots from the photoshoot and learn more about Genesis, Tiffany, Larissa, and Carol who are pictures with me below.