Pride was born out of resistance and protest. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the first Pride March, held in New York City on June 28, 1970, on the first anniversary of the 1969 Stonewall Uprising. The Stonewall Uprising was led in part by transgender women of color in protest of state-sanctioned violence by police toward LGBTQ+ people, and sparked the modern LGBTQ+ movement. Despite the progress made in the years since Stonewall, this year's Pride Month comes at an explosive time.
We're still in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the policing of Black bodies continues, and on the anniversary of the Pulse nightclub shooting, the Trump administration released a rule that removes health care protections for LGBTQ+ people, particularly transgender people.
While LGBTQ+ communities have historically shown us the power of resistance, their ability to access health care, raise their families, and live their most authentic lives is under continued attack. These attacks are heightened for Black LGBTQ+ people who still face oppression and violence at the intersections of racism, homophobia, and transphobia. We've seen examples of this in recent weeks as America mourns Black lives lost to police and racial violence, including the rampant violence against Black transgender women.
The fights for LGBTQ+ rights, reproductive rights, and racial justice are intersectional.
Intersectionality
(noun — coined by Kimberlé Crenshaw)
in·ter·sec·tion·al·i·ty
"The complex, cumulative way in which the effects of multiple forms of discrimination (such as racism, sexism, and classism) combine, overlap, or intersect, especially in the experiences of marginalized individuals or groups." — Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary
When you have full bodily autonomy, you have the ability to make personal decisions about your body with dignity and without judgment. It is the freedom to live without the policing of your livelihood. If Black people don't have the right to bodily autonomy to live their daily lives — or protest the deep racism of American culture — without fear of violence or murder, we can never achieve justice, let alone reproductive freedom.
This Pride Month, Planned Parenthood stands in solidarity with protestors in the
Black Lives Matter movement, including Black LGBTQ+ people, whose health and lives are most at risk.
To dismantle systemic racism, homophobia, and transphobia, we must stand in solidarity with protestors demanding change through uprisings and demonstrations, regardless of whether they're peaceful, or not.
