TSR | Pride 365

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Celebrating Love, Equality, and Being Your Truest Self

Dad Hug 2021

Pride is hitting me differently in 2021. In the past year, three of my loved ones have come out in one form or another so for the first time ever I've been able to celebrate it with folks other than my chosen family. It was wonderful to see the weight of concealment drop from their shoulders. Finally they could be themselves!

Except one.

She was so proud to have found the language that described what she felt. She stood tall as she confessed profound emotion and adoration for a special someone in her life. Then her face fell and shoulders slumped as she whispered "please don't tell my mom."

There it was. The fear and uncertainty I never wanted to see on my child's face was three feet in front of me.

If you're the parent determined to correct your child I challenge you to not be the reason they shrink, shrivel, and despair about being who they are. Love them. Embrace them. Stand proudly at their side. Don't force them to seek comfort in the words of a total stranger. Their identity is not a failure of parenting, but their hopelessness absolutely is.

If you're the child living in fear or with rejection, whether 12, 22, or 102, lift your head, dry your eyes. To you I say the same thing I said to my Daughter:

You are wonderful.
You are brave.
Don't stop being the person you were born to be.

I love you.

I am so proud of you.

#cyberdadhug #proudpapa

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Dad Hug 2020

Is it 2021 yet? It has come to feel like every passing month is an excruciatingly long sequel to this sci-fi disaster movie of a year. It's exhausting! I'm exhausted!

But I'm not someone having to navigate it all while being told I'm a freak. I'm not the one being told my life is a sin. I'm not having protections and rights stripped away. I'm not being targeted by hate.

I can't imagine the pain and uncertainty, the fear and sorrow, that you and so many others may be experiencing right now. I can, however, imagine what I would say if I saw these things in my own children's eyes.

From this father to you:
You are not a freak.
You are not a mistake.
You are not a sin.
You are not less than in any way.

You matter.
Your life matters.
Your future matters.

Be proud of who you are.
Become who you were born to be.

I have your back.

#blm #anothercyberdadhug

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Dad Hug 2019

In an interview last year, Sara Cunningham, founder of Free Mom Hugs, described the first year she attended pride with a free hug pin.

"Anyone who made eye contact with me, I'd say, 'Can I offer you a free mom hug or high five?' And I went home with glitter all over me." She went on to describe the stories of rejection members of the LGBTQ community shared with her. "I heard horror stories that would haunt me," she said.

Scott Dittman, the man in the Free Dad Hugs shirt at Pittsburgh Pride recently wrote, "Imagine that your child feels SO LOST FROM YOU that they sink into the arms of a complete stranger and sob endlessly just because that stranger is wearing a shirt offering hugs from a dad. Think of the depths of their pain. Try to imagine how deep those cuts must be."

It occurred to me after reading those statements that you, or someone close to you, may have been rejected and isolated from their family for nothing more than being who they were born to be.

From this father to you:
Please know that you are incredible.
Please realize you are worthwhile.
Please accept you are fully deserving of love.
And most of, please know that you are, in fact, loved.

I have your back.

#freecyberdadhugs #loveyouforyou

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TSR's Sasquatch Pride Flags

Sasquatch Pride 2021	Expanded Pride	Bisexual Pride
Pansexual Pride	Transgender Pride	Intersex Pride
Non-Binary Pride	Asexual Pride	Lesbian Pride

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TSR Pride Banners 2022 (for Rift-theme)

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