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Home Lifestyle Love always wins: Pride, BLM unite in fight for equality
  • Features
  • Lifestyle

Love always wins: Pride, BLM unite in fight for equality

By
Heather Graham
-
August 5, 2020
0
Sign reads "Love always wins"
A flag combines LGBTQ+ and Black Lives Matter messaging and imagery at the Pride for Black Lives Matter event June 14 at Liberty Park in Salt Lake City. Many Pride celebrations turned into support for BLM amid the coronavirus pandemic. (Jared Stanger)

For many, June is a month of rainbows, glitter and celebration, as groups across the country and around the world celebrate Pride and LGBTQ+ communities. This past June was different, however, because of the ongoing global pandemic that moved festivals from city parks to virtual spaces and the civil unrest that transformed parades into protests.

Across the country, as COVID-19 consumed plans for Pride festivals and parties, members of the queer communities took to the streets in solidarity with Black Lives Matter and other protests against police brutality. Sparked by the death of George Floyd and fueled by the historical inequity and frustration, protests, riots and gatherings erupted into deafening conversation demanding change.

For the LGBTQ+ community, this sort of activism calls to the very roots of the Pride celebrations.

“Pride is celebrated every June in remembrance of the 1969 Stonewall Riots, which was the catalyst to the gay rights movement. These riots were led by Black queer people and Black trans people, in particular,” said Dr. Ryan Thoroman, coordinator for the Office of the Bursar. “In lieu of a traditional celebration, I have been inspired and emboldened by the Black Lives Matter movement to use this June to show support and solidarity.”

The landscape of these ongoing protests has been littered with rainbow flags and cardboard signs adding queer voices to the conversation in allyship and shared history. Signs and chants of “Trans Black Lives Matter” and “Pride was a Riot” have served as a reminder that the LGBTQ+ community has a place in this fight and a past that reflects the same values of equality.

“Pride 2020 has really been about helping me remember the roots and history of Pride and honoring that by using my voice and power to elevate and magnify the voices of the Black community as they’re fighting through historical and systemic trauma and injustice for equity and peace,” said Peter Moosman, director of the SLCC Gender and Sexuality Student Resource Center.

“While we have made tremendous strides forward, many of my queer sisters and brothers, both here and abroad, still face daily hardships because of their identity. We can pay that debt to Marsha P. Johnson, Bayard Rustin, Harvey Milk, and others by continuing this fight and doing all we can to advocate for those in need, like our trans and BIPOC communities,” said Thoroman.

There may not be parades this year. There may not be drag shows and rainbow merchandising from favorite brands. There may be a lack of parties and pageantry, but Pride, by no means, was “canceled” in 2020. Instead, the LGBTQ+ community celebrated, advocated and marched shoulder to (socially distanced) shoulder with BIPOC for global change.

Johnson, a Black transgender activist, famously said, “No pride for some of us without liberation for all of us.”

“Pride 2020 is encapsulated in that statement. We cannot truly celebrate pride without fighting for the liberation of all oppressed communities and identities, and Pride 2020 is forcing humanity to truly hear her words and do something about them,” said Moosman.

SIgn reads "No Pride for some of us w/o liberation for all of us"
A sign displays a quote by the late Black trans activist Marsha P. Johnson at the Pride for Black Lives Matter event June 14 at Liberty Park in Salt Lake City. (Jared Stanger)

“I also believe Pride is a call to action — challenging folks who are engaging in allyship work to learn more and be more, pushing us to check our blind spots, speak up for and with the most marginalized in our communities, and fight for positive, more equitable change,” added Moosman.

“Action” has been a near-universal call in response to these protests and conversations. The importance of examining privilege, history, identity, education and advocacy has been embraced and encouraged as people rally behind the demand for equity.

“I have been attending protests and better educating myself through literature, podcasts, and films. I have also been challenging department colleagues, family, and friends, to join me on this journey of self-reflection: to explore our implicit biases and ultimately strive to be anti-racist,” said Thoroman.

Institutions and organizations have also taken up this call to action and many have begun work to be better workplaces, colleagues and companies.

“I have also encouraged my work team to look outward and consider systemic problems which live within our department, college, and community which discourage rather than empower our students of color,” said Thoroman. “Many on our team will be participating in the 21-day Racial Equity and Social Justice Challenge organized by the YWCA and I encourage others to join us.”

Pride started as a riot and a celebration of action and equity, and in 2020, though filled with less glitter and fashion, Pride month continued to stand in solidarity and support for change and equality.

Thoroman and Moosman recommend the following resources to learn about LGBTQ lives, history and representation.

Movies and TV Shows: “The Normal Heart,” “Pose,” “Disclosure,” “Moonlight,” “Boy Erased,” “The Miseducation of Cameron Post,” “A Fantastic Woman,” “Milk,” “Paris is Burning,” “Pariah,” “Schitt’s Creek,” “The Imitation Game,” “Sex Education,” “Disobedience,” “Freeheld,” “Believer,” and “Love, Victor.”

LGBTQ+ Books: “Queer: A Graphic History.” According to Thoroman, “This beautifully illustrated book is a wonderful and highly accessible introduction to queer theories.”

Books about LGBTQ+ and Christianity: “Torn: Rescuing the Gospel from the Gays vs. Christian Debate,” “God and the Gay Christian,” “Gay Rights and the Mormon Church,” and “Tabernacle of Clay: Sexuality and Gender in Modern Mormonism.”

Pride for Black Lives Matter
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Sign reads "We stand together side by side, full of color and bleeding pride!"
A demonstrator holds a sign in support at the Pride for Black Lives Matter event June 14 at Liberty Park in Salt Lake City. (Jared Stanger)
Portraits painted on sign that reads "No justice, no peace!"
A handmade sign displays portraits of BIPOC at the Pride for Black Lives Matter event June 14 at Liberty Park in Salt Lake City. (Jared Stanger)
Protester wearing mask holds sign that reads "Black Lives Matter"
A masked protester carries a sign in support of trans Black lives during the Pride for Black Lives Matter event June 14 at Liberty Park in Salt Lake City. (Jared Stanger)
Speaker raises arm while discussing Black trans issues
A trans speaker shares their story about being Black and trans in America during the Pride for Black Lives Matter event June 14 at Liberty Park in Salt Lake City. (Jared Stanger)
Sign reads "We stand with you"
LGBTQ+ community members carry signs supporting Black Lives Matter during a Pride for Black Lives Matter event June 14 in Salt Lake City. (Jared Stanger)
Rainbow-colored sign reads "Black Lives Matter"
The LGBTQ+ community joined Black Lives Matter supporters at the Pride for Black Lives Matter event June 14 at Liberty Park in Salt Lake City. (Jared Stanger)
Sign reads "There would be no Pride if it weren't for Black trans women"
LGBTQ+ community members give thanks to the early activists during a Pride for Black Lives Matter event June 14 at Liberty Park in Salt Lake City. (Jared Stanger)
Masked demonstrator holds sign for Marsha P. Johnson
A demonstrator holds a sign in tribute to Marsha P. Johnson during the Pride for Black Lives Matter event June 14 in Salt Lake City. Johnson, who died in 1992, was an American gay liberation activist and self-identified drag queen. (Jared Stanger)
Sign reads "Silence is violence"
A demonstrator carries a sign supporting the Pride for Black Lives Matter event June 14 at Liberty Park in Salt Lake City. (Jared Stanger)
  • TAGS
  • Black Lives Matter
  • coronavirus
  • COVID-19
  • culture
  • equality
  • Gay Rights
  • LGBTQ
  • Marsha P. Johnson
  • Peter Moosman
  • protest
  • Ryan Thoroman
  • transgender
Heather Graham

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