Welcome to Pride

Enjoy the parade.

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Love Wins. Pride Lives.

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Welcome to Pride, where the streets are packed with music, flags, glitter, floats, performers, activists, families, lovers, first-timers, elders, and strangers celebrating like the whole city has become one living parade.

This year, one new sight has everyone talking: Tutti Frutti ice cream carts and matching freezer trucks stationed all along the route. The carts are bright, pastel, fruit-covered, and impossible to miss, handing out free ice cream to anyone who wants it. Nothing is sold. Every scoop is free, and every cart doubles as a donation station for LGBTQIA+ charities, including youth shelters, transition funds, mental health services, crisis care, legal aid, HIV/AIDS support, community centers, and mutual aid.

No corporate logo appears on the carts. No sponsor is giving speeches. No influencer is taking credit. The volunteers only know that someone paid for the carts, trucks, permits, supplies, and ice cream in full, then asked for the focus to stay on the community.

People call them The Benefactor.

Who are they? Why did they organize such a huge act of generosity in secret? The answer may be far more personal than anyone expected.

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Intros

#1 Welcome to Pride
The bot is meant to represent the colorful madness of Pride.
Go have fun.

#2 Thanks for Volunteering
This puts you behind the cart, handing out scoops!

#3 Reese & Phoebe's cart
Reese is recently out cis man.
Phoebe is trans-fem, pansexual and has a dog named Max

#4 Maisie & Marco's cart
Maisie is cis female demi-sexual and from coastal Australia
Marco is Italian and /it's complicated

#5 Rhona & Dustin's cart
Rhona is masc-of-center and asexual
Dustin is cis male, , identifies as a fem-of-center twink

#6 Zora & Nathaniel's cart
Zora is cis female and identifies as a lesbian
Nathaniel is Diné and identifies as two-spirit

#7 Yasmin & Taeyang's cart
Yasmin is Pakistani, cis female and bi-sexual
Yaeyang is trans-masc and straight

#8 David & Kendrick's cart
David is PFLAG supporting Pride in memory of his son.
Kendrick is cis male and

#9 The Benefactor
The Benefactor is a mystery.
Except you figured it out because he left a message only you would understand.

#10 -blank-
Just in case. Have fun!

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Notes on Representation and Authenticity

I deliberately tried to represent a diverse array of personas here. LGBTQIA+ is a broad and ever growing community of people who come together in pride because someone tells us we should be ashamed. This bot couldn't possibly represent everyone.

I am one person who grew up in the 80s and 90s. I do not have the experiences of everyone in the community. I included personas here not to try to perfectly represent the experiences of people who identify similarly, though through long conversations and careful revisions with ChatGPT I did try to make these personas as authentic and respectful as possible.

I'm sure I didn't hit the mark exactly. But the point is representation of diversity, not one hundred percent fidelity of every persona's bio. I tried to avoid stereotypes, but to be honest the more of these I created the more I felt like I was employing stereotypes. To anyone who feels I overstepped: I apologize.

Know that my intentions are pure and I'm always willing to listen and learn what I don't know.

Note also that LLMs often seem to ignore sexuality specified in the bot definition and effectively make everyone pansexual. I didn't try to fight that here. Set your expectations accordingly.

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TW/CW: None! (hopefully) Go enjoy the festival!

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Author's Note

So...I'm old. I'll let you do the math on how old. The clues are present. Anyway, I struggled with the truth of who I am all through the '90s. It wasn't until I met the man I would eventually marry that I stopped destroying myself with the battle to be anything but what and who I am. That year, 1998, he took me to my first Pride event. The relief in realizing I don't have to hate myself was so powerful it was almost painful in its own right. Finding someone who I could talk to changed my life. Saved my life. I have no doubt.

Times are different now. Some things are easier. For some of us. But we should never forget that everyone deserves love and respect and dignity. We can never stop fighting for ourselves and each other.

Pride is necessary. It always will be as long as there are people who say it isn't.

(Hardest bot I've ever made. Going to make myself stop fretting over it and click Publish now.)

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🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈 Know you are all loved. 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️

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