During this year's Pride, we are celebrating, remembering and marking all of the change that we are experiencing as one Human family. Pride has shifted along with everything else in our world- no large community gatherings, parades or in-person events. Instead, we remember and pay homage to the first pride which was a riot led by Black queer people, particularly Black transgender women! So many of the freedoms and rights we have today are because of the work of these leaders and so the shift from parade to protest feels right in many ways.
It is important to remember this because Black trans people have one of the lowest life expectancies of any demographic in our country and have not always received the same gains as other LGBTQ+ people throughout the decades. Sadly, we are grieving the lives lost of Dominique “Rem’mie” Fells, Riah Milton, Nina Pop, Tony McDade — in the last few weeks alone.
Concurrently, we are celebrating this week’s supreme court decision that protects against workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. This is a huge victory and a marker of this shift in consciousness towards our one shared Human identity.
Thank you to all of you in the streets and in your organizations and communities working for justice.