How to celebrate Pride Month with your kids

While June kicks off the start of summer, it's also widely known as Pride Month, a 30-day celebration of the lives and loves of LGBTQ+ people. Whether you’re an LGBTQ+ parent or an ally to the queer community, if you have young kids, Pride Month is a great opportunity to talk to them about equality, freedom of expression, and different kinds of families.

You’ll also find plenty of opportunities to celebrate Pride at parades, parties, and rainbow-themed kids' events – or march in protest of legislation targeting the rights of trans youth, if that’s your preference. Here’s how to welcome young kids to the joy – and long-running activist spirit – of celebrating Pride.

What is Pride Month?

Pride Month is held every June as a nod to the Stonewall Riots (also known as the Stonewall Uprising) that broke out in New York City on June 28, 1969. In past decades, bars like the Stonewall Inn in New York City's Greenwich Village were a refuge for gay men, lesbians, bisexuals, and trans people, who otherwise faced violence and discrimination. Because gender non-conformity and homosexuality were considered criminal offenses at the time, police would frequently raid the gay bars to extort owners and arrest anyone engaged in these so-called criminal acts.

But on June 28, 1969, fed up with harassment and police abuse, the crowd being arrested and herded out of Stonewall began to fight back by throwing items and setting fire to the bar. As news of the uprising spread, more and more people joined and kept it going for five more days.

The Stonewall Riots galvanized the greater community to push back against injustice and oppression and form a cohesive movement. A year later, the first Pride march was held on the anniversary of the riots, and thousands of marchers took to the streets in commemoration. Today, that number is in the millions, as LGBTQ+ people in New York and cities all over the world march, protest, and celebrate every June.

How to talk about Pride Month with your kids

Even if your town doesn’t have a dedicated Pride Month celebration, chances are your kids have noticed rainbow flags flying from the doorsteps of homes and shops in your community. Or perhaps they’ve seen rainbow shirts, beach towels, and other merchandise on display at big-brand stores in early June.

(The rainbow flag has served as the most visible symbol of LGBTQ+ Pride since 1978, when gay activist and politician Harvey Milk asked artist Gilbert Baker to design something positive and hopeful to represent the community at that year’s San Francisco Gay Freedom Day celebration.)

Today the Pride flag can be a perfect prompt to start conversations with young kids about Pride Month and LGBTQ+ history and culture. If you’re a member of the LGBTQ+ community, this conversation will be personal: LGBTQ+ organizations like the Family Equality Council advise that it’s never too early – or too late! – to come out to your kids and talk with them about LGBTQ+ identity in the context of love, care, concern, and being true to yourself. If you’re struggling to find the right language, there are books about family diversity and Opens a new windowgender identity that can help you frame the discussion in age-appropriate ways.

For non-LGBTQ+ families, normalizing different types of family structures – as a way of encouraging empathy, inclusivity, and respect for others – is important. There’s a chance your kids have friends and classmates with queer or trans parents. Talking about Pride Month and the voices and identities represented by the rainbow flag can help them recognize the value of diversity in a community. It also sends a powerful message to kids that they’ll be loved and celebrated by their families for being true to themselves, no matter how they grow up to identify.

You don’t have to encourage your kids to strictly see the topic of Pride through rainbow-colored glasses: Pride started as a protest – and teaching kids about the troubled history and civil rights struggles of the LGBTQ+ community can instill the importance of resilience and fighting for one’s freedom of expression.

Families with slightly older kids might also want to dive into some of the more challenging aspects of LGBTQ+ life, such as anti-trans bills and legislation that aims to silence school discussions of queer and trans identities. These topics might not be appropriate or relevant for younger kids, but it’s okay to expand the conversation about Pride Month beyond the joy and fun of colorful parade floats.

Ideas for celebrating Pride Month with kids

If you’re looking for ways to celebrate Pride Month with your kids, you’ve got plenty of options – even if you don’t live in a big city with a Pride parade. Here are some great ideas:

Read (age-appropriate) books about Pride or different types of families. Kids as young as 2 and 3 can appreciate books that celebrate the love and challenges shared by all kinds of families, including those with two moms, two dads, foster parents, or single parents. These types of books are valuable for instilling empathy and understanding in kids, and normalizing their own families – or the different types of families they’ll encounter in their community. For more books for early-elementary kids about LGBTQ+ families and life, check out this list from the Family Equality CouncilOpens a new window.

Watch TV shows with LGBTQ+ characters. Diverse representation is important, and more kids’ programs are depicting positive representations of LGBTQ+ people and families as both protagonists and side characters. An early example is Disney Junior's animated show Doc McStuffins, which featured a two-mom family in the 2017 episode “Emergency Plan.” For older elementary-aged kids, there are even more options: Cartoons like Adventure Time, She-Ra And the Princesses of Power, Steven Universe, The Loud House, and The Owl House all depict LGBTQ+ people and relationships in age-appropriate ways, as do live-action shows like The Baby-Sitters Club on Netflix and Disney Channel’s Andi Mack.

Look for kid-friendly Pride celebrations where you live. Let’s be honest: For the littlest kids, big-city parades are often hot, tiring, and overstimulating. And for parents, the logistics of navigating sweaty, raucous Pride crowds with a grumpy toddler or preschooler can be a rainbow-filtered nightmare. Luckily, even smaller communities often host alternate Pride celebrations that feature more kid-centered activities, like LGBTQ+ Family Pride nights and Drag Queen Story Hours. Check in with your local LGBTQ+ center, Pride foundation, or library to see if there are any fun events happening near you.

Make Pride-themed or rainbow arts and crafts. Holidays are always special when you get to dress up. For young kids, part of the fun of Pride events is donning homemade rainbow costumes with body glitter and face paint. Of course, these aren’t the only ways to get crafty and express yourself in honor of Pride. You can help kids make DIY Pride flags to hang in your windows, braid rainbow friendship bracelets, or make a day of dancing to kid-friendly Pride playlists and decorating the house.

Support LGBTQ+ businesses and causes. Amid all the fun, it's important to not lose sight of the original spirit of Pride, which is about community, freedom of love and gender expression, and resistance. And keep in mind that, unfortunately, many LGBTQ+ people still face discrimination in society and the workplace, particularly queer and trans people of color.

You can best support the cause by making donations to LGBTQ+ community and political organizations, or patronizing LGBTQ+-owned businesses, especially to buy Pride-related clothing and merchandise. If you want to specifically support LGBTQ+ youth, the Trevor ProjectOpens a new window – which provides suicide prevention, crisis intervention, and other resources for queer and trans young people – is a great place to do so.

Read more:

How to talk to your child about nontraditional family types

The respectful child: How to teach respect

How to talk to your child about race