John,
This month and for eternity after that, Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation celebrates the beauty of Pride and all of our LGBTQ+ Fam!
Every year, Pride month rolls around, and we celebrate the colorful and Black beauty of our LGBTQ+ community.
But we must not forget to also recognize the discrimination, hate, and violence our family continues to face today at the intersection of their identities -- and how the fight for LGBTQ+ equality goes in hand-in-hand with #DefundThePolice.
Pride began as an uprising against police in the early hours of June 28, 1969. Police in New York City violently raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay club that was a place of refuge for many queer Black and Brown folks. Police raids of gay spaces were common. But this time, fed up with the constant police violence against them, the patrons of Stonewall fought back in what came to be known as the historic Stonewall Uprising.
The language may have been different then, but the sentiment remains the same: #DefundThePolice.
Now more than ever, LGBTQ+ rights are at stake with this white-supremicist Court. Overturning
Roe v. Wade was just the beginning.
Justice Thomas (🙄) wrote in a concurring opinion that with
Roe v. Wade struck down, the Court “should reconsider all of this Court's substantive due process precedents, including Griswold, Lawrence, and Obergefell.” Yep, it's true – Thomas
blatantly referenced revisiting (which
means overturning) the decisions that gave same-sex couples the right to marry, decriminalized gay sex, and legalized birth control.
John, our grassroots work is more important than ever. Because a Court with justices appointed by Presidents who lost the popular vote are illegitimate. Justices that claim to protect democracy but attack our civil rights and bodily autonomy are illegitimate.
The Supreme Court is illegitimate, and we cannot allow their attacks on us to continue.
Let's continue the work, John.
In love and solidarity,
Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation
