Pride Poll - Results (Patreon)

A poll like this one always is so interesting to me - one without an obvious winner/expected winner.

Gianna and Regan taking the top two spots? So exciting to see tbh, and I do not disagree in the least.

It is SO rare to see Charlotte end a poll at ZERO PERCENT! But frankly, I was glad to see it, because it means everyone voting was wearing their logical thinking caps. While C is always a queen of the HCLU, let's be real with ourselves... marching in a Pride parade, she is not.

Taylor technically came in third, though below Gianna and Regan by a MARGIN. And while Taylor, Gianna, and Regan would have been my top 3 choices, I honestly would put Taylor as the number one choice.

Let's take a bit of a deeper dive:

Gianna:

You all know Gianna loves a party. Both hosting and attending. So, it really is entirely accurate that once she came to fully accept herself and her sexuality, that she did make it her business to make Pride everyone's business.

One of my favorite parts of Down to A Science was Gianna (and Riley) convincing Ellie to come out to celebrate Pride. I absolutely love that Gianna took the platform she created and unapologetically celebrates her queerness on it, including bringing in all of her brand deals. Gianna would never work with a company that is only an ally during the month of June, and she will be making it publicly known when she has a homophobic interaction with a brand.

Gianna is a big celebrator of Pride - she loves going to all of the events and parties and parades. As someone that loves going out, June is a very busy month for her.

It isn't until she has kids that she becomes someone that takes on throwing parties/hosting events for Pride.

Riley:

Riley during Pride was something I've really enjoyed thinking about. Something Gianna comments on in On the Same Page is how seriously Riley takes being a safe space/found family for Ellie, and Gianna, and Joel, and then Mia. Long before she realized she was queer, herself, she was, like, an unofficial PFLAG president (and, as a good ally in the community, was always very cognizant of what spaces she should be in v spaces she shouldn't take up)

Riley during Pride events after realizing she's queer honestly doesn't change too much. Because she's always been Gianna's chosen Plus One. Only now, she's a part of it all. She's with Gianna. And yeah, that makes her feel proud as hell.

Regan:

I made a point to say that Riley was cognizant of what spaces she should or should not be in as someone that didn't yet identify as queer, because we ALL know Regan did not have that awareness before her own queer awakening. This woman wanted to go to sapphic speed dating.

And her reasoning always was "hey, you never know!" Granted, she was absolutely correct on that.

AFTER her queerealization?? She is going to be at every party and parade, glittered up to the max. Not only because she loves a good party and making a splash, but... she really has spent her life wanting to figure out where she fits in. For most of her life, she's only known that she fits as Sutton Spencer's best friend. Now, there's this whole community to dive into and explore, and she is READY.

She absolutely decides to host a few events and create some drink specials at Topped Off.

Emma:

Pre-Regan Emma is much more of a quiet celebrant, if you can imagine. She enjoys a good Pride Picnic sort of thing, something where she could sit out in a park and bring a book during the afternoon. She does enjoy being in the community and feeling like she's a part of something, but has always felt in a way like she's on the outside, still.

Though she doesn't have the desire or energy to go to every event that Regan wants to go to, Regan's energy is infectious. She'll attend most events Regan wants to go to, and actually enjoy herself at them (usually, as long as people aren't being obnoxious).

Her favorite events are the ones Regan hosts at the cafe, and honestly - she feels fucking proud to see Regan there and be with her.

Taylor:

For me, Taylor is the winner of the poll. For me, she is number one.

Because Taylor has gone to more Pride and queer celebration events than anyone else on this list combined, and has done so all over the world.

Leaving Faircombe, she wanted to experience everything she could in the world. And that included the places that celebrated queerness in ways she wasn't used to.

Coming back to Faircombe, it was something really incredible to see that Faircombe now does have Pride celebrations, that in town square there are rainbow flags set up during June. It's really... centering, to see that she doesn't have to continue to leave and be without roots to find acceptance and celebration of who she is.

And you can bet that with her as Mayor, Faircombe will be making a name for itself as one of the best places to live in the south for anyone LGBTQ+

Brooke:

One of the big changes to the Faircombe under Brooke being the city manager is that celebration of Pride. Where Taylor left and found acceptance and identity and celebration all over the world, Brooke dug in and carved out a place in their home town.

She's never going to be someone flashy or wanting the attention. Hell, she likely doesn't even necessarily want to go to the Pride events in Faircombe... but you bet your ass that she planned them and got them passed through city council.

Sutton:

Sutton will happily join in with Regan's enjoyment of Pride celebrations. She likely isn't going to go AS HARD as Regan, but - the summer she came out, she and Regan hit up a handful of events as she was working out her sexuality.

She deeply enjoys doing some of the logistics planning for Regan's Pride events (someone's gotta do it), and making sure they go off without a hitch.

Her favorite thing would be to simply exist at Charlotte's side and be so damn thrilled about who she is with and everything Charlotte can accomplish in terms of actual CHANGE.

Charlotte:

There are two occasions in which Charlotte would be at anything Pride related:

1. If Sutton REALLY wanted her to go to something. She'd prefer something low-key. She isn't going to wear anything flashy or want to get messy. But she would go to an event with Sutton and feel really good about the fact that she's in a place in her life where she can be with the woman she loves, and feel very happy about her life

2. If she was invited to do something - like giving a speech to kick off Pride month events in NYC, as an openly lesbian official. She would absolutely love to do that. And then, most likely, go home (or to her upscale members only club/bar scene with Sutton)

Ellie:

Going to Pride in DtAS really was the height of Ellie's Pride celebrations. Kissing Mia and getting a perceived rejection... plus the noise and the peopleing of it all - generally, she's good. She'll go to a few curated events - and if there's anything Mia is actively a part of (like the parade), she will happily join.

Mia:

Mia loves a good Pride celebration. The woman has rainbow suspenders! She loves to be in a parade.

Mostly, because she wants to be visible and wants to celebrate. Coming from a fairly conservative area in Texas, it feels good to be able to be present and visible and accepted.

Caroline + Hannah + Abbie:

My little family is going to be here together. Mostly because - Caroline would go to Pride events sporadically, depending on if her current partner or friends wanted to go to something, but it was never a THING.

Until she and Hannah got together, and they would go to events together. And for many of them, Abbie would join.

And you know Abbie was READY for the Pride parties, always. The lesbian daughter of queer parents???

During college, specifically, this was a Big Thing for her. But even during her busiest times as an adult, she'd make a point to go to a few Pride events near her (whether she was in Denver or Boston or anywhere else)