Pride Month for a straight, white (autistic) guy

There was a thread on CoasterBuzz recently about the kind of weirdness around the fact that corporations can be all over Pride Month if it suits them financially. This is naturally specific to Disney, which is selling all kinds of merchandise and food items to celebrate the month. But they're also putting up murals and making a statement, which seems appropriate given the hostile climate from the governor. It's very fucked up that government is trying to punish a corporation for standing up to a marginalized group of people. Hardly First Amendment strong.

But I've also seen a flood of friends, what few my age are still using the Facebook, updating their profile photos with pride rainbows as of June 1. And by that, I mean the straight ones. I'm in that pool too, as I am every year. I even turn on the rainbow in front of the house. For other cultural phenomenon, it would feel like appropriation, but I hope this isn't like that. If I were to cut out the folks in my life who were any part of the LGBTQ community, I'd have half a life. That's no joke. I mean, I've had website for coaster nerds for two decades, which leans very heavily gay for whatever reason. It's as every bit as typical as autism is to me.

Sidebar: There is some limited research that suggests that people who identify as LGBTQ are more frequently autistic. And that makes a lot of sense to me, because if you're wired differently, it only makes sense that your definitions of sexuality, gender and identity are necessarily more fluid. In my case, I'm sexually straight, but I have acknowledged for years, even before my diagnosis, that there are a billion conventions that we assign to gender that are completely arbitrary societal constructs. I don't think that makes me part of the community per se, but it sure enables a ton of empathy.

But really, if you're decent human being who respects other human beings, you're an ally by default. It's not that you're trying to be some kind of gay savior (or race savior, or gender savior, etc.), you just get that the diversity is good, discrimination is bad, and love is love. It's so fucking basic. And this is a case where being basic is not a negative co-opted connotation.