Celebrating Pride

by Ale Fragoso

Over the last few weeks, I had the opportunity to be one of the photographers for the Vancouver Pride Society events of this season, and it was one of the best experiences of my life…

I’ve been living in Vancouver for the last 2 years but I’m from México; and I have a lot of beautiful things to say about Mexico and their people, but LGBTQAIS2+ hasn’t reached the same status of mainstream acceptance yet there, so it was amazing and almost surreal for me to see people of all ages and backgrounds celebrating the community and human rights in such a beautiful way.

I used to be afraid to talk or write about this topic because somehow I didn’t feel like I was part of the community, but today I write with Pride, because now I understand that we are the community. As RuPaul said, "Our Biggest Misconception Is Thinking That We’re Separate from One Another" and that is what I saw through my lens: Humans celebrating other humans! What a beautiful realization!

So I want to share some of those photos in hope that one image can awake that realization in some of the people who can’t see it yet… and also in celebration and appreciation of all those people fighting for human rights.

Because Love is Love

Today I’m part of a group of Humans celebrating other Humans!

Thank you Vancouver Pride Society for letting me be a part of this. Thank you Adrian, Alicea, Andrea, Bijan, Madison, Kaschelle and all the people and artists who were part of this Pride Season, you gave me so much kindness and love. I can say I'm a better person thanks to what I saw in you while you were doing this beautiful work. I will cherish you and this experience forever.