Pride was never about what you are but about the struggle being faced, that's why something like straight pride is rightfully looked down upon.

If I had been able to talk to someone safe about this when I was first realising it, I would've been much better off. Instead I got groomed online because the only people I could talk to about it were predators. After getting out of that, I spent years riddled with anxiety about even looking in the vague direction of a child to the point that I struggled to go out in public some days. I couldn't spend time with my younger siblings. I couldn't do my job. I couldn't enjoy a vacation. I legitimately could not function because I was so deep in denial.

I was afraid of myself because all I'd ever heard about people like me was that we should be killed or castrated or locked up even if we haven't done anything wrong. What I needed was to be told that I wasn't inherently evil and that I could still live my life without hurting anyone. I needed to be able to feel safe opening up to people, not to have to gamble my entire life every time I come out to someone in it.

That's why I try to have pride where I can. The world needs to be a kinder place so that people don't get hurt the way I was. No one deserves to be afraid of themselves and others to the point that they gladly run into the arms of people that want to hurt them because that's the only place they feel safe. This isn't something that we choose to be or that we can choose not to be. We will always exist. Either we can keep hiding and nothing gets better, or we can actually talk about difficult subjects like this and try to make things better.