This month’s playlist is inspired by Pride.

Telling myself not to get maudlin over Pride has become an annual event.

When I was fifteen, a gay man was beaten to death in the park opposite my school, and the thing I remember about that the most is that people talked about it like it was inevitable. Inevitable that someone should feel so incensed by the existence of gay men that they felt justified in killing them.

We can tell ourselves we’ve come a long way, and I guess we have in a lot of ways, but there are still people all over the world who believe queer people don’t deserve to live. In 2023, there are still people who show themselves up as the worst of humanity. It makes me sad, and it makes me sick.

There is nothing as brave and beautiful as queer people celebrating their existence in the face of the hatred still being slung at them. If you’re reading, I’m so fucking proud of you.

I’m not getting into the people I lost during the AIDS crisis because it was one of the worst times of my life and I’m not ready to put it out there. After thirty years, I’m still not ready.

This is the reason I waited until July to post this here. The playlist has been live on Spotify since June 1st, but I knew this post would get dark, and I didn’t want to spoil the vibe of the music.

It is truly a celebration of the lives we all should have been allowed to have, and a hope that the world will become a safer place for the generations of queer kids to come because they deserve better.

Make sure they get it, eh?

Happy listening!