June marks Pride Month, a queer holiday about acceptance and rising from oppression. But it is also Men’s Mental Health Month. Unfortunately, conservatives love to minimize Pride Month, and Men’s Mental Health Month has become their method of doing so.
What is Pride and how did it start?
LGBT Pride Month, often shortened to Pride, celebrates the 1969 Stonewall Uprising, a catalyst for the gay rights movement. Pride began as a singular day, the last Sunday of June, and evolved into a month of events to honor LGBT lives lost to HIV/AIDS, and hate crimes. But the overall goal of Pride is to celebrate and remember the impact of LGBT individuals on history.
In 1994, the National Education Assembly included LGBT Pride Month in a list of commemorative months. Pride is a combination of celebrating one’s identity and community and fighting for better political treatment.
What is Men’s Mental Health Month and how did it start?
Sometimes called Men’s Health Month, the commemorative month was also announced in 1994, though former President Clinton officially signed the month into existence. The beginnings of Mental Health Month are not well-documented, but it is gaining attention as we seek to improve mental health for men.
The goal of Men’s Mental Health Month is to bring attention to men’s health issues and encourage men to live healthier lifestyles. Like Pride, MMHM is necessary because it challenges social stigma about an integral part of one’s being and seeks to create improvements for the future.
MMHM and Pride seem to mirror each other.
Men’s Mental Health Month and Pride should coincide very well together — they share a lot of similar ideas. Mental health is a major problem in the LGBT community. LGBT youth are more likely than their straight counterparts to attempt suicide, four times more likely to be precise.
Many of the mental health issues experienced by LGBT individuals are related to a lack of social support, another major aspect of MMHM. Men feel they do not have anyone to talk to, and only 40% of men with mental illnesses receive professional treatment.
The reason men are less likely to seek professional help or discuss their mental burdens is because of the strict boundaries of masculinity. These bounds force them to be strong, hide their emotions, and act a certain way to avoid being ostracized. This is discussed in depth within LGBT communities – acting outside of the rigid gender binary can be freeing and enable men to see improvements in their mental health.
These commemorative months should work together beautifully. So why don’t they get along? Why do men’s mental health advocates so often diminish Pride Month’s importance?
Unfortunately for men and true advocates of their mental health, the people who claim to be concerned about Men’s Mental Health Month while simultaneously putting down Pride do not actually care.
Advocates for Men’s Mental Health Month are not inherently conservative
Let’s be clear, not every Men’s Mental Health advocate is conservative or even holds right-wing beliefs. However, many Men’s Mental Health Month advocates do. There is a difference – people who care about mental health year-round do not minimize or misinterpret Pride month because they understand that celebrating your identity and history is a good thing.
This is about Men’s Mental Health Month advocates who veil their conservative identities behind faux concern for men’s mental health. How do we know conservatives, even ones who seem to have an appreciation for MMHM do not care?
Conservatives disapprove of existing or hypothetical social services
The idea of government-funded services, even ones to feed the hungry and house the homeless, does not align with the conservative viewpoint. Right-wing voters believe in small government and disagree with government “handouts.” Because of this, they would not support public mental health programs or addiction services, even if they were for men.
Right wing news outlets do not write about Men’s Mental Health Month
Sources like the Dailywire have no articles about MMHM and very limited articles about mental health overall. Dailywire’s Matt Walsh has argued trigger warnings, which help survivors of trauma avoid fight-flight mode, are ridiculous. Walsh declared, “we live in a much dumber time now,” and he implied that people who may benefit from trigger warnings are “weaklings.”
From these, it is clear that many conservatives do not care about mental health.
Conservatives are opposed to challenging gender norms
Conservatives love the idea of returning to a more “traditional” set of values, though it is unclear exactly what “traditional” means. Candace Owens, a vocal conservative, often speaks on traditional masculinity and gender roles. It is clear that these “traditional values” involve a standard masculine man and feminine woman, with no deviation.
The Right frowns upon and actively fears any display outside of the rigid aesthetics of masculinity. This includes drinking “girly” cocktails, wearing skirts, or being vulnerable with their emotions. The tight framework men (and women) are trapped in leads to anxieties about acting the wrong way, feelings of inadequacy, and the social stigma of men suffering from mental health.
They don’t care about Pride
In minimizing Pride’s importance, MMHM advocates are showcasing their utter indifference toward the mental health of men within the LGBT community. They are contributing to queer men’s mental health issues, making them feel unsupported due to their sexuality and self-expression.
A genuine advocate for mental health would never do such a thing.
While researching, I found a video made by DateRightStuff, the conservative dating website. A smug-looking man eats a salad while joking about how queer people should be thankful to heterosexuals. This account has attempted similar jokes many times; it is nothing new.
What stood out to me was the comments, with both top comments saying “Happy men’s mental health month,” garnering over 40k likes in total.
The video made no mention of mental health. DateRightStuff has previously made videos making fun of hypothetical men for having emotional conversations and needing trigger warnings. This is not a man who cares about mental health, and his regular audience wouldn’t either. So why did these comments rise to the top?
Why do conservatives pretend to care about Men’s Mental Health Month?
Short answer: their apathy toward mental health can be temporarily ignored if they are allowed to subtly and safely unleash their animosity toward the LGBT community instead. But let’s expand a bit more.
It’s harder to speak out against LGBT groups
Due to the successes of Pride month, work from thousands of activists, and decades of efforts, queer existence can no longer easily be diminished. Polls have revealed 71% of Americans are morally okay with same-sex relationships and same-sex marriage, meaning that conservatives can’t openly disparage gay people without receiving pushback. They need to hide their homophobia behind another cause.
Conservatives love to feel opressed
They say it’s hard to be a white man these days, that you can’t say anything without a “woke mob” coming to silence you. Acting like a victim can be rewarding. By posing Men’s Mental Health Month, an objectively lesser known and celebrated holiday, against Pride, they are creating a false dichotomy between the two events, making themselves look like the underrepresented victims.
They don’t understand what Pride is
Opponents of Pride month do not fully understand what the holiday is about. Instead of the celebration of rights, the fight for progress, and the community gathering that it is, they believe it is a celebration of sin. Some right-wing influencers will claim that Pride references the deadly sin, making the event inherently sinful.
Others say it is merely a celebration of sex and kinks, a big party about attraction. They do not understand (or they pretend not to understand) that Pride is an event for individuals rising against oppression and taking up space when they were previously not able to. Really, it is quite similar to MMHM, allowing men to take up emotional space when they weren’t before, but critics cannot recognize this because they do not know or care.
So what’s the point?
I don’t want you leaving this article thinking Men’s Mental Health Month is completely useless, a tool for conservatives to disguise their hatred of queer people. It is a real holiday that has been coopted by some conservatives who don’t understand the importance of Pride.
June can be both Pride and Men’s Mental Health Month; there is no need to encourage a feud. Just remember that the people who are reminding you about MMHM while reducing Pride’s importance are not invested in men’s mental health. There are much better ways to celebrate the holiday. Check in with the men in your life, especially trans and queer men. Encourage them to seek help.
Pride and Men’s Mental Health Month are about love, empathy, acceptance, and progress. Enjoy the rest of June and remember to take care of your loved ones.
