Lion's Heart Family Martial Arts

A note from Sensei:

As we near the end of June, I've gotten a lot of "no rainbow/pride post for June?"
In all honesty, I wasn't going to. Because lgbtq+ support and rights shouldn't be focused into 30 days. Just like black history month, autism awareness, indigenous recognition, or any other minority groups that have been wronged in the past.

But I then came to realize that a lot of our students and our community still don't know the REASON behind these months. So please continue reading and you may learn something new, something about me, about thr community...or maybe you won't and thats okay too.

I will only speak here about Pride month as I am not a person of colour or indigenous status and so I will not speak on thier behalf.

I came out "later" in life. Or what I felt was late because in reality now...it wasn't. I just wasn't ready. These days that sentence sounds dumb. "Wasn't ready" .... wasn't ready for what? To tell people I cared for someone? Silly out loud right?

Now, to be clear, I learned it wasnt a topic in my house because my parents didn't care so they just didn't think to talk about it to make sure we knew it was okay...because they knew it was okay.

Fast forward 11 years. I've been called every degrading name in the book. I once actually had someone tell my boss "you shouldnt have someone like THAT working with children"

I still worry about comments in the streets. I still second guess holding my partners hand in public. I always worry when we go out that I'm gonna have to sheild her or myself from someone's crude words or actions. I've witnessed people loose thier jobs just for no longer hiding who they are.

"Why do you get a whole month? Its legal now, isn't that what you wanted?" Its a step in the right direction. But Pride is a reminder that mistakes have been made in the past and in itself is a protest for the actions that continue to dehumanize people of the lgbtq+ community all over the world.

You don't have to agree with us, our views, or our thoughts, but you do need to treat all humans with respect and dignity. Thats all we have ever asked for...

To my students - you are safe here

🏳️‍🌈