Be proud — science says it's healthy

When Emy Rodriguez Flores was growing up, he didn’t feel like he had space to come out as a queer person. It wasn’t until he moved to New York City in 2009 to go to college that he felt free to be authentically himself. His first Pride celebrations there were a sort of escape, when he could be gay without feeling shame — which unfortunately wasn’t the case during the other months of the year.

“This was also around the time that gay marriage became legal nationwide, and it was something that instilled actual pride within me,” Rodriguez Flores, a travel journalist based in Valencia, Spain, told Salon in a phone interview. 

During the first Pride marches taking place the year after the 1969 Stonewall riots in New York City, thousands of people protested across the country for equal rights. To this day, Pride celebrations held each June serve as a time to commemorate the activists whose hard work paved the way for the liberties the LGTBQ community has today. It’s also an opportunity to celebrate queer communities; a safe space in which all identities can feel proud. 

Many studies have linked negative health outcomes to shame, which is closely related to the stigma and discrimination LGBTQ and other marginalized communities face. Yet studies have also shown that positive health outcomes are associated with shame’s opposite: pride.

Having family support can offset some of the negative health impacts resulting from discrimination, said Elizabeth Saewyc, a nursing professor who researches youth LGBTQ health at the University of British Columbia. Many queer people also find this support through a chosen family.

“That contributes to a sense of pride, which allows you to also shrug it off a bit more,” Saewyc told Salon in a phone interview. “That helps support people's well-being and buffers against those negative health outcomes.”

Psychologists have largely divided pride into two types: hubristic pride, which focuses on “getting ahead,” and authentic pride, which is about feeling good about yourself, said Jessica Tracy, a psychology professor at the University of British Columbia and author of “Pride is the Secret to Success.”

“Authentic pride is the good pride, feeling confident, like you worked hard for something and feel great about yourself,” Tracy told Salon in a phone interview. “[Hubristic pride] is egotism, and the words that go with it are arrogant, conceited, cocky and pretentious.”

In Tracy’s research, people with more authentic pride have been found to have more friendships, be more respected in their communities and be more conscientious, she said. People with more hubristic pride, on the other hand, are more prone to anxiety, have difficult attachment styles and are more aggressive and domineering. Hubristic pride has also been associated with higher levels of shame, she said. 

“Hubristic pride is to some extent a psychological defense mechanism,” Tracy said. “When people are afraid of feeling shame, one way to cope with that and avoid it is to build yourself up in this aggrandizing way.”

In the context of the LGBTQ community, shame can stem from family members or other members of society saying it is not OK for them to be who they are, Saewyc said. However, “when you are supported, accepted and celebrated for who you are, you are really allowed to grow and flourish,” she explained.

The positive impact of authentic pride has also been studied specifically among LGBTQ populations. In one 2021 study, a sense of identity pride in addition to teacher and family support was associated with lower rates of depression. In another exploratory study in England, Pride parade participants said these kinds of events helped counteract feelings of shame stemming from societal discrimination.

Yet future studies like these could be threatened by the Trump administration’s widespread cuts to diversity, equity and inclusion research. The LGBTQ community has made major strides toward equality in recent decades, but many of those gains are now at risk. 

Although same-sex marriage is federally protected, Republican lawmakers in a handful of states have proposed resolutions that urge the Supreme Court to overturn its decision. The Trump administration has released a review on transgender health care that suggests young people with gender dysphoria should be directed toward behavioral therapy instead of gender-affirming care, which has been shown across decades of research to improve health outcomes. In January, the administration also banned all flags other than the U.S. one — including the Pride flag — from its embassies.

Political decisions like these directly impact the LGBTQ community. Long-term stressors created by discriminatory policies, stigma and a lack of access to health care can have negative health impacts, and the LGBTQ community faces an increased risk for depression, cardiovascular disease and diabetes, among other conditions.

However, some of these risks can be reduced if support is made available. In one study Saewyc conducted among children in British Columbia, suicidal thoughts and attempts were reduced among sexual minority girls in places that were more supportive of the LGBTQ community, reflected by the prevalence of Pride parades, flags and other programs designed to support the community. 

“We found direct relationships between being in that more supportive environment with visible, physical examples of Pride — like rainbow flags and things — and lower rates of depressive symptoms, suicidal thoughts and attempts, bullying and substance use,” Saewyc said.

Still, the reality is that it is difficult to have a positive sense of self without feeling accepted by others, Saewyc said. Humans are social creatures that thrive in community. Especially in adolescence, our sense of self starts to shift from the family structure to one that involves friends and broader society, and what we encounter in our relationships in those settings can influence how we form our sense of self and learn to accept ourselves, she explained.

Unfortunately, many members of the LGBTQ community face violence when being their authentic selves in certain spaces. Between 2022 and 2023, LGBTQ individuals were five times as likely to experience violent crimes than straight people, according to data from the National Crime Victimization Survey.

“In some places, it can actually be dangerous to be out,” Saewyc said. “It can be hard to have that sense of pride in who you are when it can lead to violence against you, discrimination, the rejection of services or bullying in school.” 

However, a supportive community can combat some of those stressors. In one 2021 study, having at least one trusted adult in childhood was linked to fewer adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), which have been identified as a risk factor for many chronic health conditions. 

Pride celebrations are important because young people, in particular, get to see other people being themselves, being supportive and being celebrated for it, Saewyc explained. 

“That kind of public affirmation is another way to help young people really develop that pride in themselves and that self-acceptance,” she said.

These demonstrations, which provide spaces for people to express authentic pride, don’t only benefit the LGBTQ community. One study of 45 Wisconsin schools found the presence of Gay-Straight Alliance programs designed to provide a space for students to talk about the issues they face reported less truancy, smoking, drinking and suicide attempts for both LGBTQ and heterosexual students.

Ultimately, the onus of repairing harms done by systematic discrimination is on those who have the power to change those systems, and not the individuals affected by them. Still, science suggests pride as a feeling and Pride as a celebration both have a role to play in combating the stressors that result from that discrimination.

“Obviously, the laws make a difference,” Saewyc said. “But communities have persistently sought after and found those moments of joy, solidarity and resistance in order to live their best lives.”

Joy is closely related to authentic pride. In Tracy’s research, it’s often challenging to disentangle authentic pride from happiness when measuring people’s emotions because they co-occur, she said.

“Most things that make us proud also make us happy, so that is in some way a benefit of pride,” she said. “This is one way to try to be happy.”

For Rodriguez Flores, one part of Pride is about remembering the history of the queer movement and the leaders that came before him to fight for the rights he lives with today. Their work, he said, “made a queer, BIPOC writer like myself feel validated,” and gave him “the strength to be out in the world.”

The other part of Pride for him is about feeling free to explore his identity and celebrating what he finds in that process. And although queer people continue to experience threats to their livelihood, they have always fought to have the freedom to express themselves and find joy.

“I think in the queer community overall, and specifically in the U.S., there's a lot of folks that are exhausted, but they still have fight in them,” Rodriguez Flores said. “I know that things are pretty grim, and they are looking worse and worse every day, but I think people still have hope, and that is super important.”