What a month so far! If you can't feel the winds of change blowing during this year's Pride Month, then you must still be quarantining without a television or computer. Wait, then you wouldn't be reading this...um...maybe a friend will tell you then or something you off-the-gridders do. At any rate, we are celebrating Gay Pride this year in the shadow of the Black Lives Matter campaign, but I insist, our membership card is punched there too.
If you haven't noticed yet, I am trying my very best not to exploit the George Floyd situation because that belongs to the black community. That means our LGBTQ+ black members have a dual role this month of being proud of who they are on both levels.
I am a history major and I wanted to assure you that great change is seldomly precluded by silence. Protests and indignancy are part of the process in this country. We are allowed to share our voices and speak as loudly as we like. I would take a back seat to very few during our month of celebration but this year it is necessary and appropriate. Like I said, we are well represented within the black community anyway.
I have tried to emphasize the need for our community to look towards the black heroes like Jason Collins and others to inspire our gay black community to stand tall in resistance of white privilege. Gaycism and racism have no place in modern society and every single person in both communities needs to learn how to support the other.
Tomorrow we will be featuring Gladys Bently, a pioneer in the entertainment world that refused to be someone else in order to perform when women, especially black women, could not wear men's clothing or express their own need for civil rights.
God bless all the members of our community. Nobody should be marginalized. The book is read on the pages and only notes are kept in the margins. Being our authentic selves means claiming a page in Black Lives Matter as well as LGBTQ+ Lives Matter book of history. Claim your page and write or draw whatever you want to bring about the change that you need and desire for yourself, the person you love, your family, and your community.
I support all of us telling our own stories of civil rights and changes.
