“Hope will never be silent.” – Harvey Milk

The month of June is known in the United States, and now often around the world, as “Pride Month.” This month is a joyous and momentous occasion to celebrate our diverse LGBTQIA+ community – a community which has been historically marginalized though has fought tirelessly over decades to achieve equal rights, status, representation, and freedoms. We are still fighting…

The Stonewall Riots, which took place in June, 1969, serve as an important reminder of where we began…when transgender (specifically trans POC), gay and bisexual persons bravely fought back against police raids at the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar on Christopher Street in Greenwich Village, New York City. This moment in time became the watershed moment in the modern LGBTQIA+ rights movement and the impetus for organizing pride marches on a much larger public scale. The Stonewall Riots catalyzed the socio-political narrative around the community from one of disenfranchisement and disempowerment to that of inclusion and empowerment. From the first Pride celebration in 1970 through the present day, Pride Month continues to honor the struggles, resistance, and resilience showcased by members of the LGBTQIA+ community on that fateful day at the Stonewall Inn.

Pride is an expansively beautiful word that means so many things to so many different people. It’s a word that’s inclusive and reflects the diversity of the community and its spectrum. It’s also a word that aims to reflect the uniqueness ever-present and ever-evolving within our community. Pride reflects our unique history. Pride empowers us to profoundly love ourselves and each other. Pride creates our dynamic community, powerful relationships, and chosen family. It’s also a word that means freedom, permission, and unconditional acceptance. Perhaps most importantly, it’s a word that dispels shame, stops stigma, dissolves hate and disrupts division.

I feel an incredible sense of pride to be a part of Peak Pilates®. I haven’t experienced the same sense of inclusion and support in any other part of the Pilates industry. From my experience, Peak strives to be a safe space for Pilates students from the LGBTQIA+ community. Furthermore, the strength and richness of our diverse Peak community benefits us all in deeply profound and meaningful ways. We truly are a family at Peak.

Allyship however is empty and meaningless without action. We must continuously strive to create safe spaces, promote education, awareness, inclusion and equity…. We must continue to realize that in our diversity, therein lies our greatest strength. By holding this vision and belief, we can clearly see the intersection of LGBTQIA+ rights with the rights of all other historically and systemically oppressed peoples and social justice movements. Racial equity and gender equity are inextricably interwoven into the fabric of LGBTQIA+ equity. In the most simplistic summation, human rights are human rights.

May this article be an expression of humble gratitude and thanks for the legion of people throughout history who have bravely and unconditionally worked for the empowerment and equality of all. The work is far from over, and we strive forward together.

Let us all be together in remembrance. Let us all be together in celebration. Let us all be together in the work we have yet to do. Let us all shine brightly with pride and all its meanings. Finally, let us all hold space for each other, however beautifully imperfect, as we continue to grow and evolve into more compassionate and realized beings.

Love wins.

We are #peakproud.

Article Written By Trey Fry