June Gloom + June Doom
Fighting Depression + Despair With Rainbow Pride
Yesterday, I woke up to overcast skies and was feeling under the weatherādamn allergies again, I suspectāand spent much of the afternoon and evening napping on the sofa.
As a long-time resident of Los Angeles, I'm almost used to its "June Gloom" weather phenomenon, that marine layer that blankets the coast in gray for weeks on end. But this year, the meteorological gloom feels different. Heavier. More personal.
As a lifelong advocate for equality and justice, I find myself struggling with the daily onslaught of troubling news from Washington.
The policies targeting marginalized and vulnerable communities, the erosion of civil rights, the deliberate crueltyāit all weighs on you after a while. So much so that I've started avoiding āthe newsā like the plagues it reports on. Especially about ICE raids, about families torn apart, about communities under siege, about protests turned into police states. Especially in my adopted hometown.
For the record: Fuck ConOLD Chumpā¦and all his ignorant, racist, xenophobic cult enablers and followers too. Especially that ugh-ly, fascist mfer Stevie Miller.
Where is Dr. Pimple Popper when you need her? Both of their puss-filled noggins are overdueā¦.to be popped like piƱatas.
The anger burns bright some days. The frustration of watching progress rolled back, at seeing fear weaponized against immigrants, LGBTQ folk, people of colorāanyone who doesn't fit the narrow vision of what America "should" look like to a hateful and ignorant bunch of fascists.
It's exhausting to carry all that rage, even when it's righteous.
But then I remember: it's June. Pride Month.
And suddenly, the gloom doesn't feel quite so suffocating.
WHEN THE WORLD GOES DARK, WE LIGHT IT UP
There's something profound about Pride Month landing in June, right in the thick of LA's grayest weather. It's like the universe conspired to remind me that even when the skies are heavy and the news feels apocalyptic, we all have the power to create our own light.
Pride didn't start as a celebrationāit started as a riot. Stonewall wasn't about rainbow flags and corporate sponsorships; it was about people who had been pushed to their breaking point saying, "enough." It was about refusing to hide, refusing to be silent, refusing to let fear win.
When the world told LGBTQ people they didn't belong, they painted the streets in every color imaginable and declared their existence a celebration.
That spiritāthat fierce, defiant joyāis exactly what we need right now.
FINDING LIGHT IN COMMUNITY
When I was napping on that sofa yesterday, drowning in June Gloom and political despair, I started thinking about all the Pride events happening across the city this month. The parades and festivals, yes, but also the quieter gatherings. The support groups and community centers. The chosen families coming together to hold each other up.
Pride Month reminds us that resistance doesn't always have to look like anger.
Sometimes it looks like showing up for each other. Sometimes it looks like refusing to let the bastards (and I do mean bastards!) grind you down.
Sometimes it looks like putting on your brightest outfit and dancing in the street because your very existence is an act of rebellion.
The LGBTQ community has survived decades of persecution, violence, and systemic oppression. We've lost countless friends to AIDS, to hate crimes, to suicide. We've been told weāre wrong, weāre sick, weāre going to hell. And yet we keep creating art, building families, falling in love, and fighting for a better world.
If that's not a masterclass in hope, I don't know what is.
THE POLITICS OF JOY
There's something the current administration and its enablers don't understand about the communities they're targeting: oppression has never successfully stamped out joy. The more you try to erase people, the brighter they shine. The more you try to silence them, the louder they sing.
Every Pride flag flying this month is a middle finger to authoritarianism and fascism. Every person living openly and authentically is proof that love wins, even when the world feels like it's ending. Every act of kindness toward a stranger, every door held open for someone who looks ādifferentā than you, every moment of standing up for what's rightāit all adds up to something the current regime doesnāt understand or value: love and respect for all.
We're watching an administration that profits from division, that gains power by making us afraid of each other. But Pride Month is a reminder that their vision of Americaāclosed off, suspicious, homogeneousāisn't the real America. The real America is the one where drag queens read stories to kids, where families come in all shades, shapes, and sizes, where love is love is love.
WHEN JUNE GLOOM MEETS RAINBOW LIGHT
The skies are gray again in LA today. The so-called ānewsā continues to be awful and overwhelming. It's tempting just to go back to bed and pull the covers over my head until it all blows over. But then Iām reminded some of the most beautiful things in the world emerge during and after storms.
Rainbows, after all, only appear when sunlight hits water in the air.
This Pride Month, I'm choosing to be that sunlight. I'm choosing to show up, to vote, to donate, to volunteer. I'm choosing to check on my friends, especially those in vulnerable communities. I'm choosing to celebrate love in all its forms, to support local LGBTQ businesses, to attend events where I can add my voice to the chorus of people saying "we're here, weāre here, we're not going anywhere, dear!ā
The June Gloom will lift eventuallyāit always does. But the light we create together, the community we build, the love we choose over fear? That's permanent. That's what outlasts wannabe kings and weather patterns and whatever fresh hell tomorrow's ānewsā cycle brings.
This month, when the world feels heavy, remember: you are the rainbow breaking through the clouds. Your existence matters. Your love matters. Your joy is an act of resistance.
And that's worth celebrating, gray skies and all.
Keep calm and PRIDE ON!
Clint šāļø
COLLIDE PRESS is a reader-supported publication.
Please consider becoming a paid subscriber or patron.
Big thanks to all whoāve subscribed and/or supported!
FYC = STORIES + SUBSTACKS
How Friends Keep Us Sane In A Crazy World (Undividing with Karl Dunn)
Growing Up Gay in a World That Didn't Acknowledge You (Unfiltered Clarity)
Dancing Figures & Red Ribbons: Keith Haringā¦ (The Rogue Art Historian)
ON THIS DAY = JUNE 10
BIRTHDAYS
1874 = Violet Oakley = American artist š
1893 = Hattie McDaniel = American actor
1899 = Frederick Kovert = American actor and photographer š
1901 = Frederick Loewe = Austrian-American composer š
1922 = Judy Garland = American actor and singer
1928 = Maurice Sendak = American author and illustrator š
1949 = Frankie Faison = American actor
1962 = Gina Gershon = American actor, singer and author
1965 = Elizabeth Hurley = English model, actor, and producer
1968 = Bill Burr = American comedian and actor
1973 = Faith Evans = American singer-songwriter, producer, and actor
1974 = Dustin Lance Black = American filmmaker š
EVENTS
1793 = The Jardin des Plantes museum opens in Paris. A year later, it becomes the first public zoo.
1865 = Richard Wagner's Tristan und Isolde premieres in Munich, Germany.
1935 = Dr. Robert Smith takes his last drink, and founds Alcoholics Anonymous in Akron, Ohio, with Bill Wilson.
1956 = The Mattachine Society of New York holds its first public meeting.
1977 = Apple Computer ships its first Apple II computers.
1983 = Octopussy is released in US theaters.
HOLIDAYS + OBSERVANCES
PORTRAIT + QUOTES OF THE DAY
āThere's so much more to a book than just the reading.ā
Maurice Sendak
āI can't believe I've turned into a typical old man.
I can't believe it. I was young just minutes ago.ā
Maurice Sendak
Clint, We will survive all of this, Los Angeles always does... however, the protesters and writers need to stop destroying.
What's mayor Bass said last night Donald is testing out on Los Angeles to see if he can get away with it elsewhere. If the trained seals AKA GOP members of Congress we're doing their job according to the Constitution and the laws of the land we wouldn't be here.
Donald is trying to declare martial law so the 2026 elections don't occur, he's scared besides being a coward and a sick, on so many levels, man.
Beautiful Clint, thanks. Very important to remember that resistance can be gathering together for some fun too.