If your TikTok timeline hasn’t yet been graced by the presence of one RaeShanda Lias, you’ve truly been missing out. As one of the most consistently hilarious and down-to-earth creators on the app, RaeShanda has been pointing us in the direction of good sense for years. Whenever we’re in doubt, the queer author, advocate, and veteran always guides us back to true North by advising us to check the board on such diverse subjects as friendship, driving etiquette, and using our PTO.
RelatedNo, dating mascs does not make you straight!
Recently, she did all of us a solid by setting a few things straight about Pride month. As we all know, it’s become a common occurrence for straight folks to try and join in on the festivities of the one month that gay people have to be a complete, unqualified, rainbow-hued mess. And while that’s all well and fine, RaeShanda is laying out some rules of engagement for straight people looking to take up space and sow judgment this June. In a word…don’t.
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“Here are some rules for surviving Pride,” RaeShanda explains, “if you don’t support the Alphabet gang. Rule #1, mind your business.”
Can you guess what the other rules are? That’s right: they’re all along the lines of “mind your business.” Because truly that’s all that needs to be said. This Pride season—and really every season!—what we need from straight people is good faith allyship, or complete and total silence.
“Don’t go into these people’s establishments tearing up their stores,” RaeShanda says, “because you don’t agree that they have Pride paraphernalia in there. Nobody asked you to go in there, Nancy.”
Precisely!
“Y’all try this same mess during Black History Month,” she points out, noting that the people who act dumb around Pride season are often the very same folks who show their complete and entire a** in the face of other celebrations of diversity. And frankly, we’re all tired of it. If you don’t like Pride, stay home and be straight! It’s not rocket science!
We’ll leave you with a RaeShanda classic: because when it comes to Pride month, we can never have enough reminders to not be found dead with our bush out.