June is Pride Month so I’m showcasing the best of many brand’s Pride work throughout … and all year long btw for those brands who also support from July to May. As well they should and we thank them for it!

Today I salute bubly’s “Coming Home.”

This program from bubly is spot-on Pride work for so many reasons. First it contributes to The Stonewall Initiative that helps create safe spaces for the LGBTQ+ community, something at the heart of how Pride began … invasions of a safe space at The Stonewall Inn. The Stonewall Initiative is really making an impact with powerful resources and education so that members of the community can create and thrive in safe spaces to find community. bubly is helping to support that initiative, which I applaud.

The other part that makes this program spot-on is the recognition of those safe spaces and how important they are not only to the community’s physical safety but emotional safety as well. “Gay bars” and community centers are truly where the people gather to be who themselves. They not only build community and friendships and a support system, but they build self-esteem and courage and the ability to move forward. In many cases they build family, like I did.

I know that places like these were absolutely vital when I first came out and when I was building my new network of friends and eventually “family.” Bars in New Hope, PA and Philadelphia and New York City were the only places I knew where to go to be myself, at a time when I was realizing myself … as an adult with two children. I was fortunate to have access to those safe environments and the people in them, but many live in places where there is no access. There is no safe space to be who you are and find others like you.

Which is why I am so thankful to The Stonewall Initiative and to brands like bubly who support these kinds of initiatives because we can’t lose these safe spaces for our people. Now just as much as back in the day when Pride first started or when any of us starting realizing that we needed them too.

Thank you. What’s your experience? JIM

bubly Presents "Coming Home"