When the Stonewall riots — triggered by pushback against an undercover police raid at a gay bar-— swept Greenwich Village, Manhattan in 1969, it marked the dawn of queer pride. June, celebrated as Pride Month, is built on this uprising, against years of oppression and the burden of being the “outsider.” But history bleeds into queer lives today, and Stonewall’s legacy still trickles through time.

Queer people today have a unique vantage point of experiencing two worlds: one of hope and blossoming support, and another of general disdain to the hush-hush concept of queerness. The underdog’s story is hard to shake off, even 54 years after Stonewall.

For people navigating the rocky roads of queer identity, shutting out the likes of JK Rowling’s bigoted rhetoric (thinly-veiled behind Motte-and-Bailey arguments) might be easier said than done — even if they chalk these interactions up to pixels on a screen. Because these words have tangible impact — from stoking fires to stereotypes about how trans women are fundamentally a “threat” to modern-day womanhood, to triggering legislation that can prevent trans teens from having gender affirmation surgery.

Beyond the doomscroll of Instagram comments spewing micro-agressive jabs at queer people, disguised as “memes”, the exhaustion of existing as a queer person, on and away from the internet, remains an arduous affair.

So one month of celebration — and the entirety of it — does no harm. Not to the ones “flaunting” queerness, nor the ones keeping it under wraps. And not even to those scrunching their noses at the taboo of it all. Ultimately, Pride, or any month dedicated to celebrating minorities, is not about carving out an isolated space — but about integration into society. Queer aspiration for Gen Z does not need to be as grand as historical resistance against police raids. For now, a stepping stone can be a small ember: be it a celebration of a vibrant culture and lives built around it, or just dreaming of the reality of unapologetic existence, somewhere away from confining closets.