I’m celebrating Pride Month with these Rainbow Popsicles – full of fresh fruits, these are natural, Vegan + Gluten-free!

‘Eat the Rainbow’, they say. Filled with fresh fruits, each one selected for it’s special color, these Rainbow popsicles are a fun and healthier way to include the rainbow in our lives this summer, not to mention a solution for those boring last bits of fruit that hang around the fridge!

Although, I needed to add a little blue food color to the banana, because I couldn’t find a fruit that was a true blue. If you know of one, please leave a note in the comments below. And don’t you say blueberry!

But today’s post is more than just about food.

June is LGBT Pride Month and while I usually steer clear of all topics besides food here, this week has me a little rattled. I just found out that Netflix has canceled one of my favorite shows, Sense8. It was grief that drove me to create this recipe for a Rainbow themed popsicle, and I went berserk at the supermarket trying to find a fruit, each one to represent a different color in the rainbow, beauty in unified diversity.

More than just another show

If you haven’t see the show yet, it’s a sci-fi story about 8 strangers from all over the world who develop a connection that allows them to experience each others’ lives as if it were their own.

*Potential Spoilers*

While just the sci-fi factor would usually be sufficient to pique my interest, Sense8 is so much more than just another series. It is the only show I’ve seen that talks about LGBT issues, with characters that bring new meaning to ‘all love is still love’. From the gay couple Lito & Hernando in Mexico City, to the Interracial Transgender-Lesbian couple Nomi and Amanita in Los Angeles, one cannot help but fall in love with them and their stories. Or feel their anguish when they’re persecuted for being different from what most of the world thinks should be right.

And I don’t mean to trivialize the issues faced by the other ‘straight’ characters  – Sun (Korean), the daughter of a powerful businessman and a brilliant kick-boxer is ostracized for her gender, by her father and most of the society who looks down on women. Or the Chicago PD officer, Will who is constantly haunted by an unsolved murder from his childhood, which drives him to become a dutiful and compassionate cop. Kala, the Indian pharma-scientist, who is caught in an arranged marriage to a man who loves her, but whose love she struggles to reciprocate. Capheus, a cheerful, good-hearted Kenyan driver who fights against corruption and poverty to provide for his mother infected by AIDS. Wolfgang, a German safe-breaker and thief with powerful ties to a family rooted in organized crime, who struggles with morality. And last, but definitely not the least, Riley, a DJ who lives a solitary life in London, trying to escape the horrors of her early life in Iceland.

Each of these characters come with a powerful back story, and we see them fight, fail and get back up again. But most importantly, despite the different cultural backgrounds they come from, because of the connection they share with each other, they are able to understand and accept each other for who they are, lending their skills and strengths to the entire cluster to fight against an evil corporation that is out hunting them down for being different.

We could all take a page from this philosophy, and first try and put yourself in someone else’s shoes before you start throwing stones at them!

It is truly an all-inclusive, truly diverse (geographically, economically, culturally and sexual orientation) show, and inclusive and diverse not just for the sake of it.

It’s a pity that budgeting issues ($108 million/season) are the reason for such a wonderful show to be taken off the air, although I cannot help but wonder if that is the only reason.

I think Modern Family was the first show I followed regularly, which had prominent+recurring gay characters – and while the sitcom did its part well in making Mitch and Cam seem no different than any other couple, especially when it comes to parenting, I will always love Sense8 for taking my passive acceptance into an enthusiastic embrace.

Because in this day and age, with so much hate suffocating the world and turning it into a toxic cesspool of pointless violence, I don’t believe that anyone should be persecuted for choosing to love.

While watching the movie ‘Hidden Figures‘, I was absolutely appalled to see people of color, especially women, be treated so inhumanely, even at a time when science was so advanced that mankind could reach for the Moon. And it got me thinking, what are we doing wrong now that will cause our children to look at us with complete disdain?

This is probably where I must mention that I am neither a lesbian nor do I personally know anyone in the LGBT community, but that doesn’t mean I can’t stand with them in their fight against discrimination. As a human being, I abhor discrimination of any kind, and I refuse to be party to one that is founded on a misplaced idea of what love should be.

And so, this month, I am celebrating Pride Month with these Rainbow Popsicles (The Rainbow Flag is a symbol of LGBT Pride) and because food is the only way I know how to celebrate anything! Our lifetime saw immense courage in those who finally managed to ‘come out of their closets’. Let’s not wait too long to accept them. It just reflects very poorly on us.

Today happens to be the anniversary of the horrific Orlando Nightclub shooting. We cannot undo what’s happened, but we can do something to prevent something like that from being a repeat entry in our history books.

When you make these Rainbow Popsicles (which I really think you SHOULD!), be sure to SHARE YOUR PHOTOS with me through Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. I’d love to see what you cook from here!