Now that the primary election is over, Philly’s LGBT community can focus on what’s really important — Pride and softball. OK, so maybe not everyone in the community identifies with those, but they do cover a large cross-section of the population. Pride events have started in the last few weeks with the selection of Mr. and Ms. Philadelphia Gay Pride, followed by the announcement of Pride headliner Wendy Williams this week. Last week also marked the 13th annual Philadelphia Black Gay Pride, which included workshops, reunions, a ball and more parties than one person could possibly attend. This weekend marks Equality Forum, with workshops, the International Equality Dinner and Sunday Out.

And then there was Dining Out For Life and the City of Brotherly Love Softball League opening day and party. There were pageants and awards shows.

So, there’s a lot of Pride happening.

Before you know it, the Pride Parade and Festival will be upon us. While some are planning vacations and weekends off, summer gardens and family visits, Philly Pride Presents is busy planning a day to celebrate all the colors of the sexual and gender minority rainbow.

Philadelphia is fortunate that its LGBT community is vibrant and robust, a testament to the people who have worked so hard to achieve what has been accomplished to date.

Beyond the LGBT community itself, it’s important to continue to take the case for equality to our allies. As a minority community, LGBTs have to build bridges, partnerships, alliances, friendships with the majority. Certainly, the LGBT community could (and must) rely on the courts to defend the rights of the minority, but that road is often long and fraught with hardship — and sometimes doesn’t end in justice.

And that’s the challenge. To tell the stories of LGBT lives, be they similar or different from the majority. To defend the humanity of LGBT lives. To question assertions that love is “less than” depending on the genders of the people involved.

Until gays and lesbians, bisexuals and transgenders gain full equality under the law, it is our responsibility to speak up for who and what we are, and who we love. It might be a quiet action, or one that’s highly visible. But we owe it to our forebears — those who risked jobs, livelihoods, arrest, ridicule — to continue to agitate for equality.

So when the Pride calendar starts to fill up, remember that there was a time when none of this was possible. So celebrate it now, and keep working for equality.