Alan Turing was told by his society that he should be ashamed for being homosexual, and in fact, that he was criminal. His punishment was to be chemically castrated, and because of it, he committed suicide. That, in spite of his brilliance and in spite of his contributions to the Allied victory in WWII. The fact of his homosexuality, society said, invalidated every value that he might have held as a human being.

When a society tells you that you should be ashamed of who you are and that there’s nothing you can do to alter that judgment, then I think it’s entirely reasonable — and in fact it’s a moral imperative — to announce in response that you will be proud. What exactly you are proud of will vary by individual, and is nobody’s business. But the fact that you will be proud when that society tells you that you should be ashamed is a vital message.