Pride Month

When a Rainbow Means Safety: Somewhere Beyond the Hatred Lies Hope

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By Benjamin GroffMedia© | benandsteve.com | ©2026

June 30, 2026

Why Pride Month, the rainbow flag, and the simple act of being seen still matter.

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There are moments when people ask a sincere question:

Why is there a Pride Month? Why the rainbow flag? Why all of the celebration?

For many people, the answer is simple.

Because there are still nights when someone leaves a restaurant holding the hand of the person they love and wonders if they will make it home safely.

Recently in the small city of Caldwell, a gay couple, Juan Olvera and Eric Reed, say they were enjoying dinner at a local restaurant when they became the target of homophobic slurs from a group of men. The couple left, hoping to avoid confrontation. Instead, they say they were followed, chased through a parking lot and onto nearby railroad tracks, and assaulted. One man suffered a black eye, cuts, and bruises. The other required stitches after being struck in the face. Police arrested one suspect and filed a misdemeanor battery charge. Idaho law does not currently include sexual orientation among its hate crime protections.

The physical wounds will heal.

The fear takes longer.

Juan Olvera told reporters:

“I literally thought I was going to die.”

Think about that sentence.

Not in a war.

Not while committing a crime.

Not while threatening anyone.

But simply because he was gay.

And that is why Pride exists.

The rainbow flag is not a declaration of superiority.

It is not a political party.

It is not an attack on anyone else’s beliefs.

It is a signal.

It says:

  • I am here.
  • I have survived.
  • I should not have to hide.
  • I deserve to live openly and safely.

For some people, Pride is a parade.

For others, it is a quiet acknowledgment that they made it through years of fear, rejection, ridicule, or violence.

Many older LGBTQ Americans remember when they could lose jobs for being gay.

They remember being denied housing.

They remember police raids on bars.

They remember the terror of the AIDS epidemic.

And yes, they remember the beatings.

The rainbow became a symbol because symbols matter.

Flags matter.

They tell stories.

The American flag tells the story of a nation striving toward liberty.

The rainbow flag tells the story of people striving toward dignity.

Neither promises perfection.

Both represent hope.

This story from Idaho is not offered to inflame anger or divide people further.

It is offered as a reminder.

Behind every Pride flag is a person.

Behind every Pride Month celebration is someone who once wondered whether they would be accepted by their family, their church, their community—or even survive.

Most people, regardless of politics, agree on one thing:

No one should fear violence because of who they are.

No one should be beaten for holding the hand of the person they love.

No one should have to wonder whether tomorrow will bring acceptance or hatred.

That is not a gay issue.

That is a human issue.

And until stories like this become relics of the past rather than headlines of the present, there will continue to be Pride Month.

There will continue to be rainbow flags.

There will continue to be people saying:

We are here. We are your neighbors. We are your family. And we hope one day these reminders are no longer necessary.

Benjamin Groff II
Groff Media © Truth Endures

 

When Did You Decide? The Myth of Recruitment

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© Benjamin H. Groff II — Truth Endures / benandsteve.com

June 8,2026

What many LGBTQ+ people say about discovering who they are.

This is not the LGBTQ+ community going door to door attempting to convert people.

In some small town, somewhere in America, a young teenager is struggling to understand who they are.

They have begun to realize they don’t quite fit in with their classmates. Somewhere between elementary school and junior high, something changed—or perhaps something that had always been there finally became impossible to ignore.

No one taught them this. No one recruited them. No one sat them down and instructed them to feel differently.

“People may choose what they do. They may choose what they say. They may choose whom they tell. But many would argue they never chose whom they were attracted to. They simply discovered who they were.”

They simply do.

For as long as they can remember, they felt different from many of the people around them. They couldn’t explain it. They didn’t have the words for it. But as they grew older, they found themselves admiring classmates, friends, or even television stars of the same sex rather than the opposite sex.

They don’t understand why.

Most spend years trying to understand themselves before anyone else ever discovers their secret. Many pray. Many bargain with God. Many try to ignore their feelings. Some throw themselves into sports, church, relationships, or anything else they hope will make those feelings disappear.

Yet for countless people, the feelings remain.

That is why attempts to force someone to change through shame, punishment, or so-called “conversion therapies” have been so controversial. For many LGBTQ+ people, these approaches are not introducing a struggle they have never faced. They are intensifying a struggle they have already been fighting alone.

And when a young person receives the message that the people they love most would rather change them than understand them, the consequences can be devastating.

One of the most persistent myths is the idea that there is an organized effort to “recruit” people into being gay. The claim ignores a simple question:

When did you decide to be straight?

Most heterosexual people cannot point to a day, an hour, or a moment when they consciously chose who they were attracted to. They simply discovered it as they grew up.

Many gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people describe their experiences in much the same way.

People can certainly choose how they live, how they express themselves, and what relationships they pursue. But attraction itself is often described as something discovered rather than selected.

COMING OUT UNDER FIRE A WORLD WAR II STORY

World War II Veterans declare their identity.
“We felt liberated once we had discovered our own secret. We were gay.” Learn more. Visit here…

There are, of course, individuals who describe themselves as “gay for pay”—people who engage in same-sex activity for financial reasons rather than because of their personal orientation. That is a different discussion entirely. Behavior and attraction are not always the same thing.

The larger question remains: 

If people are being recruited into being gay, where is the moment of recruitment?

When did you choose who you were attracted to?   

For most people, the answer is the same.

You didn't.
© Benjamin H. Groff II — Truth Endures / benandsteve.com