Black Lives Matter During Pride Month, Too
As LGBTQ+ people around the world prepare for the much-anticipated commemoration, celebration, and fellowship of Pride season, we will inevitably see images of racial equity and justice fade away, to be replaced with rainbows and other symbols of gender and sexual equality. There’s nothing wrong with that, per se. More than ever, it is important to celebrate and honor our resilience as a community, even as we reflect on the huge losses so many of us have faced in the past year. But on the heels of the anniversary of the murder of George Floyd, it is critical that we also remember that Black Lives Matter during Pride, too. The legacies of brutal policing, racial discrimination, and civic disenfranchisement that Black people in the U.S. and around the world have endured for centuries don’t take a break for Pride month. In fact, it is important to remember that for a great many people in our community, there isn’t the luxury of choosing one or the other. For many Black and Brown members of the LGBTQ+ community, Pride month can be a double-edged sword, a reminder that our movement is too often dominated by white, cis, gay men, at the expense…
read more