What Pride 2025 Means to Me
Since 1970, some form of LGBTQ+ Pride has been celebrated in June to commemorate the 1969 Stonewall uprising, a rebellion against state-sanctioned discrimination and intimidation in response to a police raid at storied New York gay bar the Stonewall Inn. While Stonewall patrons endured frequent raids—many of which resulted in arrests for violating laws against “cross-dressing”—the crowd spontaneously resisted that summer night, sparking a movement that demands equal human and civil rights for the LGBTQ+ community to this day.
From the beginning, honoring the uprising’s anniversary has been about celebrating queerness and continuing the fight for freedom from discrimination and systemic oppression. For some, the month is an opportunity to revel in the LGBTQ+ community’s diversity, beauty, creativity, resilience and love. For others, however, it can be a more somber moment, a call to action to remember that there’s still work to do to ensure all people have equal protection, equal opportunities, and the freedom to live and love authentically.
According to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), there are currently more than 585 anti-LGBTQ+ bills introduced on the state and federal level, including actions restricting transgender athletes in sports, removing certain books and curriculum from schools, and even challenging the right to same-sex marriage. Additionally, political pressure has resulted in widespread erasure of LGBTQ+ identities from governmental entities—including removing mention of transgender individuals or influence from the National Park Service website for the Stonewall National Monument.
At REI Co-op, we believe that the outdoors is for all, and we’re on a mission to get everybody outside. That means ensuring all people—including LGBTQ+ community members—feel welcome, represented, heard and honored in outdoor recreation spaces and on our public lands. This year, we wanted to acknowledge the complexities that Pride month brings for members of the co-op’s LGBTQ+ community by inviting REI Co-op Members, staff and partners to share what Pride 2025 means to them in their own words. Read their thoughts below, and we hope that no matter what this Pride month means to you that you’re able to get outside freely, joyfully, lovingly, authentically and proudly.
Some of these messages have been edited for length and clarity but are shared in each contributors’ own voice.
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- 1 Lisa Congdon, REI Co-op partner, artist, author and advocate
- 2 Andrew V. Morton, REI Co-op retail department manager
- 3 Quita St. John, REI Co-op Member
- 4 Cal Calamia, REI Co-op partner
- 5 Nicole Lacasse, REI Co-op staff
- 6 Saeran "Sae" D., REI Co-op Bike & Ski Technician
- 7 Kenya, REI Co-op partner
- 8 Fran Dunaway, TomboyX founder
- 9 Angel's Rest, REI Co-op staff
- 10 Mikah Meyer, REI Co-op partner
- 11 Haley C., REI Co-op staff
- 12 Lou Barton, Farm to Summit cofounder
- 13 Jordan L., REI Co-op staff
- 14 Kes, REI Co-op Member
- 15 Sam E., REI Co-op staff
- 16 Greyson K., REI Co-op staff
- 17 Samiere, REI Co-op partner
- 18 Lynn C., REI Co-op staff
- 19 Ashlie Grilz, REI Co-op Member and partner
- 20 Ever M., REI Co-op staff
- 21 Zulma Y. Terrones, Life Stages founder and CEO
- 22 Melanie, Andie Swim founder
- 23 John Davis, REI Co-op staff
- 24 Brennon Ham, REI Co-op Member
Lisa Congdon, REI Co-op partner, artist, author and advocate
I came out as a lesbian 33 years ago, in May of 1992. I have known I was some flavor of queer since the early 1980s, when I was 13 years old. It’s wild to think about the absolute roller coaster ride the LGBTQ+ community has been on in my lifetime, especially over the past 15 years. And yet, one thing I know is true: Our ability to persevere is tied directly to our capacity to experience and hold space for joy. Facing hatred and cruelty and, simultaneously, choosing and allowing joy, makes that joy radical. For me, Pride is the expression of radical joy in the face of hate and erasure. That joy is expressed in our ability to get up each day to fight for our right to exist, to celebrate our existence, to live our lives as courageously as we can, to be anchors for one another, to be in community with each other and to continue to be forces of light in the world. May we always be grounded in our queer joy!
Andrew V. Morton, REI Co-op retail department manager
Pride this year is focused on liberation for me. Liberation to express, celebrate, educate, protect, support and love all aspects of myself and all aspects of our LGBTQIA+ family. It means stretching my arms wide in the sun to embrace the fullness of who we are with love, ensuring my legs and tongue are strong enough for the moment we are in, where standing and speaking up are nonnegotiable. It means loving my partner even more, not allowing the oppression and attempt at suppression to cause me to avoid holding his hand in public. To let our love be a defense against the hatred and disdain some have for those of us who bravely choose to live in our truth and express our wondrous colors. To let those in community in our everyday lives know, “I see you, and I got you.” To hike trails, paddle waters, ski runs, climb walls and bike not only in resistance to say that “We are here!” but with my Black boy joy and intentional presence to enjoy the gift of fresh air, the wind on leaves, the tap dancing of tiny waterfalls, the song of the birds that reminds us to never stop singing.
Quita St. John, REI Co-op Member
Resilience and community. That is always what Pride has meant to me, but 2025 floods those words in like a necessary nostalgia—because my LGBTQIA2S+ community’s nostalgia is its present. Community and resilience are a daily requirement for queer and trans people because, throughout history to this present second, we have often only had each other. Our vibrance, creativity and innovation frightens those who cannot dream as greatly we do about communities of chosen family, a clear-eyed sense of self, and allowances for true individual self-expression, change and growth. The fear bigoted people have of LGBTQIA2S+ people is a fear of our greatest human potential.
But fear is different than ignorance, and ignorant people give me hope.
I am a queer cis femme. I present to the world in a feminine way that means many people assume I am straight. And so I come out, again and again, often daily. Sometimes I come out to to surprise, sometimes to questions, sometimes to a fellow queer or trans community member, and, increasingly, to those who wish to understand, empathize, and to simply be educated.
I am heartened and I have hope in this 2025 Pride season because my community has always been here, and our resilience over centuries means we will always be here; and because in coming out every day, I find more and more allies who want to join us. The secret is that they are joining in their own liberation as well.
Cal Calamia, REI Co-op partner
We need to fight harder and love harder. We need to rage against our own erasure by being unapologetic about our authenticity, our joy, our grief, our communities, our passions, and our commitments to uplifting each other across differences. Queer people have overcome a tremendous amount of injustice throughout history, and Pride 2025 is about not succumbing to fear, but a relentless devotion to hope.
Nicole Lacasse, REI Co-op staff
Two decades after coming out, my pride has come of age.
I once found it in ice cream breakfasts, picnics in the park, and strutting down Broadway in the annual Dyke March, hand in hand with the woman who later became my wife.
Then, it was the gentle companion that held my grief as my perfect story fell apart: through the loss of a child, a mother, a marriage, a home.
Now, it’s the patient gardener that nurtures seeds of hope into the unassailable joy I feel swinging in a rainbow hammock after a swim in Lake Washington, running countless miles in golden autumn light, or watching my effervescent 9-year-old leave me in her sparkling dust as our skis carve down frozen slopes.
Through times of sorrow, elation, and everything in between, pride brings me the courage to queer the script I was handed about what life should look like and write a new story that reflects the fullness of who I am—and am becoming. It connects me to generations of queer community before me, and to all who have turned to time outside to heal, belong, and find meaning.
Maybe that’s the beauty of now: the chance to reach, fall short, and begin again in the fullness of our humanity. Whatever Pride means to you, may it bring us all the freedom to queer our path, the courage to pursue a life well-lived, and the resolve to create a future more beautiful than we can imagine.
Saeran "Sae" D., REI Co-op Bike & Ski Technician
Getting lost in the wilderness is my secret recipe for my inner peace. Biking is also my white noise, my zen, and tranquility. Whether I’m on rolling mountains or in the wild of a city like D.C. you will find me zipping around on a vibrant pink bike, saying ‘Hello, stranger!’. As a Deaf, queer person, I deeply believe and advocate to ensure nature is accessible to our 2SLGBTQ+ people with disabilities, because nature is our basic right, our home, and our freedom. Nature doesn’t care whether I’m Deaf or queer like our modern society does. Nature sees me as both. Not one or the other. I see the nature the same. See you in the wild!
Kenya, REI Co-op partner
Pride is not just about visibility—it’s about the safety that visibility provides. As a Black woman, community has always been an integral part of my life. When you belong to a marginalized group, being seen as part of something greater than yourself can be a source of protection. There has always been power in numbers, and the more one belongs, the harder it becomes to be isolated or dismissed. This feels especially true in today’s political climate.
But beyond the physical safety that visibility can offer, there is also the emotional safety it brings—to those who see you living freely and fully. To be seen being—unapologetically—is a form of affirmation. It’s not lost on me that when a young woman sees me, she sees a queer, Black, married mother who is also a best-selling author and business owner.
When I was younger, the idea that I could build a life and a family with a woman felt distant and unrealistic. Doing work that reflects who I am, without needing to hide, felt even further away.
For me, pride means being not only accepted but celebrated—for all of who I am. It means making that once-distant life real, visible and possible for someone else.
Fran Dunaway, TomboyX founder
I’ve been out since I was 21, and it’s been remarkable to witness how Pride has evolved—not just in the world around me, but in my own heart. I became a gay rights activist shortly after coming out, and I’ve marched in Pride parades innumerable times. I’ve been brought to tears. I’ve been overwhelmed with joy. For me, Pride has always been about connection, visibility and celebrating people for exactly who they are.
Pride is a powerful affirmation of love, resilience and hope. It’s when we gather, stand tall and celebrate a world that—little by little—has grown more inclusive. A world where we are seen. Where we are welcome.
We’ve come so far since 1990: the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” marriage equality, expanded antidiscrimination protections, greater representation in media and politics, cultural relevance.
But 2025 feels different.
This year, the LGBTQ+ community is facing a new wave of attacks—political, cultural and violent. Our existence is being politicized. Trans people are being scapegoated to stoke fear and hatred. Legislators across the country are working to erase our rights, our histories, our lives.
As we look to Pride 2026, it can’t just be a celebration. It must be a rallying cry.
We must come together. Fight for each other. Show up and speak out—loudly, unapologetically, proudly. Because we are not going anywhere.
We will not be erased.
Angel's Rest, REI Co-op staff
Pride, to me, means breakfast at my friend’s apartment every Saturday, learning queer history, and holding a leather jacket passed to them from its original owner, who was at the Stonewall rebellion. Seeing my friend smile while sharing stories about the owner, reliving an old ache when telling me why he was taken from us—I’m reminded of my friend congratulating me for finally finding my place in this world. And telling me with straightforward love that there will be people who will try to rob me of it.
I walk lighter knowing that my friends found me when they did, but each step I take in 2025 reminds me of their words and the complexity behind them. I know they wish I would never feel or deal with what they did, but the fact is they could only prepare me for the inevitable. What has always been present is a need for community and a reliance on one another to keep us safe. To continue the journey, accept new people, build community and honor our history while working to keep it resilient: That’s what Pride has always meant to me.
Mikah Meyer, REI Co-op partner
“It’s hard to be what you can’t see,” I heard civil rights activist Marian Wright Edelman preach while I volunteered at the 2015 Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Youth Gathering. Though the event was designed for the 30,000 teenagers in attendance, her words resonated deeply with my 29-year-old self. For much of my life, I denied who I was as a gay man. I simply didn’t see anyone showing me I could grow up and be gay and still do the adventure activities I enjoyed, as an out gay man.
So, for me, Pride 2025 means living in a way that the next generations of LGBTQ+ adventurers can see me.
Celebrating Pride can often feel like a selfish act, but in that celebration, we provide visibility others need to help them take pride in who they are.
This Pride 2025, remember that simply by your existence—your witness, as we’d call it in my faith community—you’re making it easier for someone else to see, and be, themselves.
Haley C., REI Co-op staff
At a time when LGBTQ+ rights are facing a disturbing wave of regression and erasure, Pride 2025 is not just a celebration—it's a call to action. For me, it means channeling my energy into daily, deliberate work that amplifies visibility and resilience within queer communities.
As anti-LGBTQ+ policies gain traction globally, I’ve asked myself: What can I do? My answer has been to focus on what I can control—leveraging my expertise in sports marketing to make an impact. Through my role on the board of the Out Athlete Fund (OutAF)—a nonprofit supporting LGBTQ+ Olympians and the producer of Pride House at LA 2028—I’ve found a way to create visibility where it matters to me.
That path recently led me serve on the jury for the Paris International Prize for LGBTQ Rights. There, I witnessed how the erosion of rights in the U.S. echoes abroad, such as in Hungary, where public LGBTQ+ events are now banned. Yet, among a global cohort of activists, I also felt hope—fueled by a shared refusal to be silenced.
Pride 2025, to me, is about showing up—every day—for queer voices, especially trans voices, that are too often pushed to the margins. Change begins when we each use our unique skills to push the movement forward. That’s how we win.
Lou Barton, Farm to Summit cofounder
Pride 2025 is a celebration of visibility, belonging and love in all its many forms. Farm to Summit was founded by two queer women, and we built it on the belief that the outdoors is a place of connection—a refuge where everyone who treats it with respect is met with solace in return.
This year, Pride feels especially powerful. It’s more than a celebration; it’s a call to stand with one another in the face of adversity. Pride is a unifying force—LGBTQ+ folks and allies coming together to uplift, protect and honor the courage it takes to be authentic. It’s a commitment to see each other fully and to create space for joy, healing and radical inclusion.
At its heart, Pride is about love—love for ourselves, our chosen families and for the world we’re working to make better. Just like a trail that leads you somewhere beautiful, Pride reminds us that we all deserve to walk through life fully ourselves, with an overwhelming sense of unity, peace and belonging.
Jordan L., REI Co-op staff
As a father of a queer child, Pride means something different to me now. It’s about love, yes, but it’s also been about learning to listen and, honestly, unlearning a lot of things I thought I knew. When my child finally felt safe enough to tell me who they really are, that moment changed everything for me. It made me realize I needed to do more than just say I loved them.
To me, Pride is the opposite of shame. It’s standing up against a world that too often tells our kids they should hide or apologize for who they are. I’m still learning as a dad, but I’ve come to understand my job isn’t to have all the answers: It’s to create space for them, celebrate who they are and remind them every day that they’re deeply loved exactly as they are.
At a time when hate feels so loud and legislation threatens our families, Pride reminds me that acceptance isn’t just meaningful—it’s essential. It gives me comfort knowing my child will grow up knowing they’re not alone, that they’re seen, and that they deserve joy.
Kes, REI Co-op Member
This year for Pride, I want more time. I want more time with people who make me feel loved, wanted and seen fully. I want more time to smell the flowers, to touch the cool water of an alpine stream and to have sore legs from hiking all day. For Pride this year, I am reminding myself to slow down and to savor my days. I am wearing bright colors, taking neighborhood strolls and laying down in the grass. I am letting the warmth of the sun on my naked chest—scars prominent and on display as the work of art that they are. I am proud this year of my gentle masculinity, and of the trans siblinghood that has become my community. I want more time with these people who stand tall with me, and more time to enjoy life’s simple joys together.
Sam E., REI Co-op staff
Pride 2025 is a pivotal moment for advocating for equal rights for the entire LGBTQ+ community, especially our transgender and gender-expansive family who face targeted attacks based on their identity. As someone who works in advocacy for outdoor equity and serves as the co-chair of the REI Co-op LGBTQ+ employee resource group, Prism, I see Pride as a time to be visible in spaces where I hold privilege, advocating for those who cannot while at the same time fending off threats to my own nonbinary identity.
Pride is year-round, it’s an opportunity to recognize the efforts of previous generations who have blazed trails toward equality. Despite our progress, we continue to face unfounded attacks on our right to live authentically. The current political administration's extremist actions threaten the physical safety and identity of our community, making it crucial for allies to speak up and stand with us. The outdoors is for all, and so is advocating for all individuals’ right to enjoy these spaces safely and freely.
Pride is not a pause in our fight against discrimination but a celebration of our resilience and unity. It’s a time to look around at our LGBTQ+ community, smile and celebrate each other's presence.
Greyson K., REI Co-op staff
To me, Pride 2025 is about coming together. To celebrate queer history and our collective future. It is about persevering, in the face of all the adversity we are facing day in and day out. In today’s society it feels like we’re fighting an uphill battle and it can be overwhelming, and often feels impossible to stay positive at all.
The queer community is deeply resilient, our history tells that story. I know that we will not remain silent in the face of adversity, hatred and danger. But for those of us within the community, coming together is vital but it goes much further than the month of June. It is a daily medication needed to provide strength and hope. I hope that Pride 2025 can provide the energy many of us are needing to continue to preserve.
Samiere, REI Co-op partner
Pride 2025 arrives during a time of quiet tension. As someone who identifies as nonbinary, the impact of Executive Orders 14168 and 14173 feels personal. When protections are removed and support systems disappear, it sends a message: Who I am isn’t—and won’t be—fully accepted. This year feels like a targeted erasure.
Some days are more overwhelming than others. Thankfully, I have an incredible therapist. I stay grounded through running, meditation and spending intentional time in nature. I choose not to overindulge in social media to protect my peace. When I do show up, it’s to share my art or uplift others.
I pour myself into creativity and movement to remind myself how strong and incredibly capable I am—that I am in control of my own destiny. I believe this season will pass. I owe it to myself not to fight everything, but to evolve and adapt—to keep shining in my truth.
The ones who need my light will feel it. That’s more than enough for me.
Lynn C., REI Co-op staff
For me, Pride in 2025 is a commitment to resilience. These days, my self-love is an act of resistance. All the joy I find in my transness stands in defiance of a growing din of animosity. Every day I live openly and unapologetically as myself is a quiet act of protest. Each time I reach out to one of my trans siblings in solidarity and love, I am fomenting a little rebellion. “I am proud to be trans” is more than just a statement of fact. My pride is an oath to myself, a vow to never lose sight of the wonder of transformation, the beauty of being a binary-breaking shapeshifter.
I’m a history buff, and from that perspective I can look back through centuries and across cultures and see dozens of examples of dominant cultures acting to suppress gender-diverse expression. The thing is, trans people? Gender-diverse and nonbinary people? We’re still here. No matter what anyone does in any political office, we’ll always be here. That’s something worth being proud of.
My Pride is the pride of the bright yellow dandelion growing up through the pavement.
Ashlie Grilz, REI Co-op Member and partner
This Pride season, I find myself looking back. Pride 2025 is about honoring my own journey—and the generations who made it possible. I came out as a lesbian at 17, but the deeper work of understanding who I was began earlier, during a difficult chapter in high school. After tearing my ACL twice, I was forced to step away from basketball—a sport that had defined me in so many ways. Losing that identity was heartbreaking, but it created unexpected space for self-discovery.
In that quiet, off-the-court time, I found new parts of myself: a love for art, design and music—and a growing awareness of my sexuality. That exploration didn’t happen in a vacuum. It was made possible by the courage and sacrifice of LGBTQ+ elders who came before me—those who fought, loudly and quietly, for the freedoms I now live every day. Their strength and presence, whether I realized it or not at the time, laid the groundwork for my growth.
Now, in my forties, I feel a deep responsibility to pay that forward. I want to show up for the next generation the way the older generation showed up for me. When I see young people and athletes living boldly and unapologetically, it fills me with so much hope.
Pride 2025 is a celebration across generations—a reminder that we’ve always been here, and we’re not going anywhere.
Ever M., REI Co-op staff
Being out and proud right now reminds me how it felt to be out and proud for the very first time, when I moved away from home for college and was finally able to express myself. Yes, it’s deeply scary to feel vulnerable and exposed, but there’s also the thrill of finding community, living authentically, redefining what life and love look like, and challenging harmful preconceptions. Now that I’m older, wiser and less afraid, I recognize that queerness is a gift and a superpower: It both puts the fight in me, and it encourages me to be tender—both of which are deeply necessary this Pride season. That means you can catch me getting to know my neighbors, calling my representatives, participating in mutual aid, rolling up to collective activations, learning about traditional lifeways, eating and sharing food from the garden, losing myself in the forest, making intentional eye contact, showing my people (and animals) I love them, and actively believing that none of us are free until we all are. Hope to see you out there.
Zulma Y. Terrones, Life Stages founder and CEO
As a queer, Mexican-born, femxle founder, I carry with me the intersections of identity, healing and visibility. Pride means reclaiming space—on trails, in boardrooms and in our inner worlds—where joy, safety and self-expression are not just allowed but celebrated.
It’s a reminder that we are nature too—resilient, interconnected, wild and worthy of belonging. For me, Pride is about rewriting systems that once excluded us and building new ones that center care, inclusivity and justice. It’s about making sure that queer, trans and nonbinary people of all races, backgrounds and bodies not only exist in outdoor spaces but thrive in them.
In 2025 and beyond, I want every LGBTQIA+ person to feel the freedom to explore boldly, play freely, love openly and lead authentically. That’s the type of world I’m helping create—and what Pride 2025 means to me.
Melanie, Andie Swim founder
Pride 2025 is about visibility—something that’s shaped both my personal life and my work. I’m a wife, a mom of two and a founder. Growing up, I didn’t see many families like mine. I didn’t see women like me leading brands. That’s part of why I built Andie.
At Andie Swim, we make inclusive, confidence-boosting swimwear for every body. But it’s more than the product—it’s about representation. From the models we cast to the way we design, we work to make people feel seen, supported and celebrated.
Pride is a reminder that showing up matters. Not just in June, but always. As a brand and as a person, I want to keep building something that helps people feel like they belong.
John Davis, REI Co-op staff
Pride 2025 is a celebration of community and the freedom to be exactly who we are—on the trail, in our neighborhoods and everywhere in between. For me, it’s a chance to honor those who’ve paved the way, to stand with those still fighting to be seen and heard, and to reflect on how we can keep creating space for everyone in the outdoors.
Pride isn’t just a moment—it’s a movement. It reminds me that the outdoors should be a place where every person, no matter how they identify, feels welcome, safe and empowered. That means continuing to build inclusive spaces and champion equity—not just during Pride, but all year long.
This June, I’m proud to celebrate with my community, to share our stories and to keep showing up for what matters—because when everyone belongs, we all go further.
Brennon Ham, REI Co-op Member
This year, Pride for me is about building a discipline and practice of hope. (Mariame Kaba)
As a swim coach, I have the privilege of working with a coaching staff of young and caring leaders. I trust them to make the water fun, accessible and inclusive for all young athletes in our community. This trust inspires a hope for a summer of buoyed spirits and kindness.
Coaching connects me to families in my community. These families trust my staff to keep their children safe and to foster a love of swimming and the outdoors. I trust these families to help us uphold values of kindness, love and respect. They give me hope that our community will continue to keep love and belonging at the center of all we do at the pool and beyond it.
I’m outside for three to four hours a day under the Pride Month sun, doing work I love to do with 150+ kiddos, ages 5 to 18. With them and their families, I get to be my full and visible, respected and loved self. Through swimming, Pride Month has transformed into a month of love and belonging. And, it inspires me to hope for a brighter future.