APW Happy Hour

Happy Pride, y'all!

People holding a rainbow banner that reads "IT'S NOT OVER!" in the Castro in San Francisco

Hey APW!

Earlier this week, I was reading an article by one of GQ‘s regular contributors when I noticed a little flag in the bottom corner of the article that said “Pride Week.” I was delighted. Mostly the Internet has come such a long way in the nine years I’ve been writing online. Back when APW first launched, mainstream publications (and ESPECIALLY wedding publications) had nary a mention of Pride. And the wedding world took a decidedly separate but… not even vaguely equal approach to LGTBQ+ weddings, when they acknowledged them at all.

Since LGBTQ+ rights have been central to my value system for a very long time, I founded APW with the idea of it being fully inclusive. A few years in, by reader request APW’s Pride Week was born, which became the team’s favorite week of the year by about a mile (you can see past years here).

But then marriage equality passed, mainstream wedding publications started taking up queer weddings, and it seemed like Pride Week on APW was no longer needed. Maybe it was enough (or maybe it was necessary?) to simply integrate LGBTQ+ weddings and stories into our content the way we always do. To normalize, in the words of Shonda Rhimes. So with some sadness, we retired Pride Week.

But, as it turns out, we couldn’t have been more wrong. We were not right on the edge of living in a truly LGBTQ+ inclusive society. We were right on the edge of something much, much worse than what we had before. In light of our current political situation and the countrywide efforts to roll back LGBTQ+ rights, we know that visibility is crucial right now. While we are closer than we ever have been for true normalization, we still have a lot that needs to happen to get us there.

There have been many resources for LGBTQ+ weddings over the years, but happily there are even more resources these days, including Equally Wed, Catalyst Wedding Co., H & H Weddings, and A Bicycle Built for Two. And even those big wedding publications that wouldn’t publish gay weddings once upon a time, now turn their logos rainbow for pride. And that, my friends, is progress.

So I’m very happy to announce that next week is Pride Week on APW. Because the work is never done. It simply evolves. So Happy Pride to APW’s LGBTQ+ audience, and Happy Pride to the rest of you too. Let’s do this thing.

And with that, here is your open thread.

XO,

Meg

PS, CONGRAAAATS to Lynn Baumgartner for winning our Crate and Barrel Giveaway! Thank you to everyone who entered! 💕

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