Pride Month: A Personal Story

In honor of Pride Month 🏳️‍🌈, I'd like to share a personal story.

When I was fourteen, I traveled to Italy with my family to visit relatives. It was there, in the international airport in Rome, that I saw something that would impact my life in so many ways.

Let me jump back a bit. I was fourteen, in my second year of high school in Australia. A pubescent teen 🤪. I didn't think it was an option to come out as gay at the time, nor did I really think that much into it. I'd just survived years of bullying through primary school, and in high school, the bullying only intensified. I was told I was gay every day — among other things. So, just making it through my school years was my sole focus before I could even think about who I was. I'd figure everything else out whenever I'd see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Back to the airport in Rome: walking with my mum and younger sister, I was observing all the international people around me. And there he was — this guy (about my age now), heading my direction. He was wearing a white t-shirt that read: "SMILE, if you're gay!" 🌈 I read that shirt and I SMILED. Here was this guy from somewhere in the world, traveling solo, wearing his Pride — and whether he knew it or not, impacting the lives of everyone who saw him and read his shirt.

As he passed me, I quickly changed my face to 'neutral' 😶 in case I was 'detected' by my mum or someone else looking 😅. My smile lasted only a few seconds in that moment — but I stayed smiling on the inside. Whenever I felt alone, misunderstood, and like there would be no happy future, I'd think back to that moment.

The moment I turned eighteen, I travelled to New York — and the rest is history.

After everything this past year brought, I just needed to breathe life into that memory. Enter my 2021 Pride collection. 😃🏳️‍🌈 By bringing this memory to life, I hope that young, closeted, confused, victimized LGBTQ+ people will take notice and SMILE. Because being your true self is always something to smile about.