At work, I’ve been given pamphlets and those tiny “Jesus will guide you!” papers and I’ve been told strangers will “pray my problems away”.

Once, I had a woman try to take off my mask because it was a rainbow mask.

Woman: “I’ll pray for your sinful gay ways to vanish overnight!”

Much to her surprise, the next day I came in wearing any gay/lesbian/asexual pride buttons, necklace, earrings, and mask I could find.

The sixteen-year-old daughter of one of my neighbors has recently come out as gay. Her father, a very friendly and warm guy, told me and some other neighbors while we were walking the dogs. Someone in the group asked him if he had any problem with it. His reply was priceless.

Neighbor: “The only problem I have is that she brings home much cuter girls than I did at that age!”

Yep, they’re gonna be fine.

I work for a pizza franchise as the assistant general manager. One night, it’s just me, an insider, and two drivers, and things are slow, so I’m letting labor get a little high for the sake of getting some monthly deep cleaning done, which is a pain but necessary.

In walks a pair of middle-aged women, holding hands and discussing what they can order — not “should” but “can”. After looking at the menu for a minute, they just ask me:

Couple: “What would you recommend for a vegan pizza with no sauce? We don’t like tomato sauce, but normal, fresh tomatoes are fine.”

Me: “Does that mean no cheese, either?”

Couple: “Yes.”

Me: “Okay. Have either of you ever tried our garlic sauce? It’s canola-oil-based, not dairy-based, and I really like it.”

Couple: “No, but we could try it if it’s vegan. May we see the bottle?”

Me: “Of course!”

I grab the big jug to show them the ingredients and squirt a little into a deli cup so they can taste it. Their eyes LIGHT UP! They’ve apparently been eating dry pizza with no cheese for years because our ranch, BBQ, and buffalo sauces all have dairy, honey, and/or egg. This is a revelation!

I modify our veggie pizza for them after asking about their tastes and making some suggestions. I ring it up in a way so they will get to use a special, and I tell them so. I end up making them a large pizza with a regular fluffy crust, a spiral of oil-based garlic sauce, a sprinkle of dried garlic granules, Italian seasoning, baby spinach, green peppers, onions, mushrooms, banana peppers, diced Roma tomatoes, and black olives. I make sure all the spinach is as covered as possible so it won’t burn; this is normally what the cheese does but there’s no cheese.

After thinking, “There’s nothing on here to hold these toppings together,” I throw caution to the wind and add a little more garlic sauce on top. To be safe, I only cook it three-quarters of the way, and the sauce on top actually does crisp up the veggies and kind of stick them together a little.

I then show them the whole pie.

Me: “Is this done enough? Without cheese, a full run might start to burn everything.”

Couple: “It looks and smells wonderful!”

Then, at the cut table, I put more garlic sauce on the crust and season the crust with a zesty Roma seasoning, cut the pie, and show it to them again.

Me: “Be careful when you pick up a slice; without cheese, there isn’t really anything binding the veggies to the crust, and they might fall off.”

They nod. They’re so happy that I took the time to do all this, they decide to sit down right in front the counter and try a piece before taking the pie home.

Both take a few bites, make happy sounds, and come right back to the counter.

Couple: “Can we join your rewards program?”

Me: “That’s a great idea because I can actually save that pizza under your phone number. Then, other employees can pull it up if you want to order it again.”

They both signed up and I added the pie to both profiles. It only took a minute. Then, they left, thanking me profusely for introducing them to a pizza that wasn’t just overcooked veggies on a plain, dry crust. They began ordering every two weeks or so online, for pick-up at our drive-thru window, and I was usually the one that made their pizza. They always tipped me $5 if I was the one on shift when they drove up, which went into our tip pool for our insiders.

Sometimes they’d order one of our salads with no cheese or extra garlicky breadsticks seasoned with zesty Roma seasoning instead of grated parm when they earned free rewards like that. They once said that, because of me, they never ordered from any other pizza place anymore.

I left about a year later and heard from old coworkers that they’d asked about me and were sorry I’d moved on, but they stayed regulars. It’s a nice feeling, knowing that putting in a little extra effort to help out and take care of someone had such a large impact on them, even a whole year later.

I own a restaurant. My little sister is trans, and in support of her, we’re doing a special offer for Pride month. Come in wearing anything rainbow — hat, shirt, pin, shoelaces, makeup, whatever — and your meal is 50% off, plus a free slice of rainbow swirl cheesecake. We’ve been advertising this pretty heavily on Facebook, so about three-quarters of our customers have some sort of rainbow on.

One night, I’m sat behind the bar watching the customers and employees do their thing. I see one of my servers talking to a man at a three-top — Mom, Dad, and their kid — and she seems pretty uncomfortable, so I head over.

Me: “Hi, my name is [My Name], and I’m the owner of this establishment. Is there anything I can help you with tonight?”

Bigot: “Is this a gay restaurant?”

Me: “Excuse me?”

Bigot: “You know, like the gay bars. There’s a lot of [slur]s in here, and I’m starting to think this isn’t a family-friendly place.”

Me: *In an exaggerated lisp* “That’s not a problem for you, is it, sweetie? Surely a biiiiig strooooong man like yourself isn’t scared of some sissies.”

Bigot: *To his wife and kid* “Come on, we’re going to [Chain Restaurant].”

The server and I had a laugh, and then I gave her a few extra drink tickets for dealing with him.

Yes, this promotion is costing us money. No, we’re not going to be in the black this month. By my best estimate, I’m losing $12,000 doing this. Some things are more important than maximizing profits. I’m cool with losing a bit of money if it means a gay kid in my town might feel more comfortable coming out, or if it let some trans person know they have a safe place to be.

This story is part of the Pride Month 2023 roundup!

Read the next Pride Month 2023 roundup story!

Read the Pride Month 2023 roundup!

I play Dungeons and Dragons with a group of friends. We do it at a specific house because he’s the only homeowner among us right now.

While we were playing one day, a door-to-door marketer came knocking.

My friend speaks Klingon and answered the door in Klingon, his standard way of dealing with solicitors. To our surprise, the salesman answered back in Klingon, as well. My friend wound up buying whatever it was after the salesman was able to do the whole pitch in Klingon.

My friend invited the salesman to join us at DnD next week. He accepted.

Three years later, they’re married. The salesman also isn’t working door-to-door anymore; he now manages social media accounts for a company.