On Friday, June 20, 2025, American Community Media hosted a powerful briefing dissecting the meaning of Pride in an era of conflict and fear. The panel featured Helen Zia, Richard Rodriguez, and Aruna Rao sharing moving, real-life stories which hit struck a chord with many women navigating life, love, and legacy.
For Rao, it began at home. “When my son came out as queer and trans, I was terrified—not of him, but for him,” she shared. “As a straight Indian immigrant woman, I realized how unprepared I was. But love pushed me to learn.”
Her journey birthed Desi Rainbow Parents & Allies, a support movement that now spans South Asian families across the country.
Rao didn’t mince words about today’s risks. “Executive orders are erasing trans identities.… The Supreme Court recently upheld a Tennessee law banning gender‑affirming care for minors.… We’re seeing gender refugees—families forced to move just to protect their children.”
Zia reframed Pride as both celebration and resistance. “Pride is the ability to be all of me—a lesbian, an Asian American, a daughter of immigrants.… There was a time I was told that being queer was a white thing, a disease. Even in activist circles, I was almost excommunicated.”
In a revealing moment, Zia shared how she finally came out to her family. “When I told my mother, she said, ‘I know.’ Years later, when I married my wife, she announced, ‘I have six children, and now they are all in happy marriages.’ That’s what every parent wants—happy children.”
Rodriguez offered his own perspective on Pride. “I don’t feel that I chose to be gay—I feel that I was chosen.… It allowed me to imagine a life outside of what I was born into.”
Despite this, he expressed concern over persistent erasure in media: “Writers like me still get profiled without mention of our sexuality. It’s as if we can’t be both intellectual and gay.”
The panel also confronted the broader threats facing LGBTQ communities. As Zia warned, “The same people who reversed Roe v. Wade are coming after same‑sex marriage next. Silence equals death.”
For mothers and women grappling with these conversations, Rao offered reassurance: “There is no contradiction between faith and affirming your LGBTQ child.… These identities are as divinely blessed as all of us.”
