Why I'm Over Pride Month - BUT it's still super important

Every year June rolls around, and it both brings out the good and it brings out the trolls. And the rainbow-washing corps. Argh.

So it’s Pride Month, again…I have a love/hate relationship with it because I both love the progressive aspect of it AND it’s one of the most difficult months for me personally. I think it’s important to share openly about what it’s like to be a part of the LGBTQ+ community, particularly while the political climate is so wild. Pride Month really brings the many elements of LGBTQ+ life front and center.

I’m not going to get too heavy, but I want to share some things about the ins and outs of Pride when you work as a blogger. I ALSO HAVE FUN TRAVEL to share today! You know me, I’m a mix of the good and the bad. I’ll start with the fun travel and then I’ll dig into Pride and what’s happening in our world around it.

And thank you for tuning into my newsletter. I really enjoy writing openly about life and sharing our stories in this format. I appreciate everyone who reads or shares this with others!

Surprised by Columbia SC - a Welcoming Pocket in the South

I love visiting new places and discovering that they are completely not what we expected. Last week we went to Columbia, South Carolina… the heart of “The South” and had an incredible time. I first talked to the destination reps months ago at a conference and they had told me that we’d love it. I was like “Okay, show me why SC is a great place for an LGBTQ family to visit…” and yes, it is wonderful.

LAST WEEK: In last week’s newsletter I’d talked about what I do at work conferences and how I plan work on the blog. This trip is one of the direct results of connecting with people at a conference.

What made Columbia SC so great? As you walk through downtown, nearly every business has a Pride decal in its window that says “Brave the Rainbow,” and the people reflect this feeling. When you’re traveling as a unique family, whether it’s two days, a mixed-race couple, a visible age gap, whatever, you can feel peoples’ eyes on you and you pick up on the subtleties of how others feel about your existence in their space. We didn’t experience this anywhere in Columbia.

Check out my article all about our impressions, all the fun and interesting things we did with the kids, and the scoop on YOU planning a visit here!

Unique Boutique Hotel for Families - the Hotel Trundle in Columbia

While we were in Columbia SC we got to stay in a really cool, very unique hotel, the Hotel Trundle. Again with making us feel welcome and not awkward, it was a great place to stay with the kids. How I describe it is a mid-century meets Great Gatsby style… in a converted auto parts factory building. I know it sounds odd, but it was really cool.

One of the best things about the Trundle was the strange, elongated room. Because the hotel is in a converted industrial building, the space is odd and they have created hotel rooms from storage rooms and hallways. I love it! Check out my complete review of the Hotel Trundle here!

Next week: hear all about Congaree National Park! (article will be live Wednesday the 7th)

Up next: the Florida Keys & Key West

Today I’m heading off to the Florida Keys & Key West with Kelly (my bff / assistant). We’re working with the tourism board to find some new and unique wildlife adventures in the Keys, and to capture the spirit of Pride in Key West. It’s going to be a very different trip. I’ve never been to the Florida Keys without the kids, so we’ll see if I love it or if I wish they were with me every time something reminds me of them. (I think I’ll be okay though).

Stay tuned over on Instagram and Facebook for updates during our journey this week. We’ll be staying in South Beach for a night before launching into the Keys tomorrow. Our hotels are all very different, so I’m sure I’ll be writing about them individually, but if you have some specific questions or things you want us to check out while we’re on our road trip this week, please let me know!

Check out our guide to planning an affordable Florida Keys vacation here!

Let’s Talk About PRIDE Month

So, first let me say that with all the progress that has been made over the years, YES, Pride is still very important, and not just because it’s a fun time of the year for lots of people. With laws being passed and debated all around the USA that are meant to hurt the LGBTQ community (don’t even try to start with “parents’ rights” cuz NO), it’s even more important to be a positive visibility in the world.

Check out my article on Why Pride Matters for the full scoop!

Pride is a time when people, both in the LGBTQ community and its allies, share their joy and call attention to the struggle it took to get there. Pride is huge for getting to celebrate a whole population being validated, both on paper by the government and by family and friends. And yes, all of that is important, because if you haven’t struggled to feel equal or supported, then consider yourself fortunate.

Something that’s become a big part of Pride Month these days is corporate sponsorship and action. I’m sure you’ve seen everything on the news lately with Target or Bud Light incorporating Pride elements, which is great, but with that come the trolls. Apparently, Target has decided to succumb to some of the trolls and change their approach to Pride, making it less visible (very unfortunate), but other companies just get louder and show their support even more, which is great.

When June rolls around, I kind of cringe, waiting to see what the trend is for hate speech and 1 Million Moms’ next campaign. This years’ theme is “grooming” which is just awful. You won’t see me talk about Pride a lot on social media during June because I just don’t have it in me to deal with the trolls, the moms that have choice names for us, or the MAGAs that say that we’re forcing an agenda on them.

Seriously, we just want to exist in peace with the same rights and protections as others. That’s no agenda. Anyways, I’m tired of defending my family and my community against online trolling… BUT we’ll still shine our bright light of visibility in our community and everywhere we go, because that’s one of the biggest ways WE can impact change.

Pride Month Campaigning - OMG, Seriously

We save June for work projects and sharing products that don’t just want to work with us during Pride Month. If you want us to visit you or share something on the blog, you better be forward-thinking, a planner, AND show that you actively support the LGBTQ+ community year-round, not just in June. So this June we’re working with Columbia SC (love them!), Psycho Bunny (we’ve done lots of work with them in the past), the Florida Keys (inclusive and we have a long-standing relationship with them), and Travel Wyoming (been planning this for a year!). These destinations and brands have taken the time to be thoughtful, supportive and awesome.

Now, let me tell you a quick story. Dinnertime on May 31st: “Dear Mr Taylor, Chase Rewards would love to work with you during Pride Month!” Are you kidding me? You’re literally emailing me at 7pm on Pride-eve to say you’re thrilled to work with us during Pride Month? No. Respectfully decline and provide information about rainbow-washing and planning.

Today is June 6th now, and since the 1st I’ve received four requests for travel DURING JUNE to take part in both hotel and city Pride campaigns. Come on, folks, you know you’re not going to be able to actually get somebody jumping on your last-minute bandwagon. Call me crazy, but if you really wanted to work with somebody on a longstanding issue that you know is important to them, wouldn’t you have planned a bit? I totally get that we book out months and months in advance, but even if you didn’t know that about us, it would make sense to plan.

Anyways, that’s something that drives me a little batty each June and this year it’s been really silly. I just wanted to share this unique and irritating element of Pride month in my world.

Coming This Summer: Wyoming, Maine and More!

I’m really excited for what we’ve got coming up. This year we’re doing a project with Travel Wyoming and we get to go explore the dinosaur side of Wyoming. It’s going to be a combination Old West and Dr Ross Gellar’s Tour of Wyoming. The kids can’t wait! And we get to do a quick stop in Yellowstone National Park, because I can’t be in Wyoming without at least saying hi to my happy place.

From Wyoming we head to Washington to visit family and friends, and then we come back to Florida. Then it’s back down to the Florida Keys with the whole fam for actual vacation (we’ll need it!). And then just before school starts back up, we’ve got our annual trip to Maine!

Maine is a really special place. It’s beautiful and so unique. All of New England is just a complete contrast to where we live in Florida, and Maine takes everything we love about the timeless maritime-ness of the Northeast and adds the deep green elements of the Pacific Northwest. It’s going to be a great trip and the perfect kid-focused adventure before they’re back in school.

Before the summer season is officially over, there are a few more work trips happening too. Central Montana is one that will be very different. This is a region I’ve explored minimally, so it’ll all be brand new. And then I have a conference in Gulf Shores, Alabama. That’s going to be both fun and some hard work. I’m down for all of it!

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That’s it for now, I think. I need to pack the car and then we’re off to Miami today and the Keys tomorrow. Thank you so much for taking the time to read the newsletter and blog. I really appreciate you following along.

Have a great week!