What Pride Means for Photographers

We celebrated Pride Month at Pexels this year with an exciting update to our site.

The Pexels search algorithm now prioritizes content depicting LGBTQ relationships, with the goal of increasing representation for LGBTQ people not only on Pexels but across the internet.

We asked members of Pexels' LGBTQ community to share why Pride is important to them.

Here's what they had to say.

“Pride matters to me because it allows me to be who I am and be proud of who I am. It allows me to be proud of other people and what they are, inspires me to grow, to seek my rights, to show the colors of the world and to seek a more diverse place to live.”

— Claudia Barbosa

"Being proud of being, of existing, is never easy. It is an effort that we make upon waking up and that does not end when sleeping, it accompanies us in our dreams. It’s easy to let that pride go, because you can’t be strong all the time, but you have to...

The consolation often comes from remembering that each step we take forward was taken by many others who opened doors for us to express ourselves and show our points of view—in my case, through photography.

The photography, in fact, that shows me every day how beautiful the world can be if we dedicate ourselves to carefully observe everything around us. Pride is in everywhere and in everyone, in everyone’s eyes. That, nobody can take from us!”

— Matheus Viana

"I am proud to be who I am for the simple fact that my photography has always gone hand in hand with my self-acceptance and my self knowledge. I am proud to live without fear of being who I am and to show that in my art."

— Wherbson Rodrigues

Cover photo by 42 North.