I’ve been watching PRIDE, on Disney +. Most of the progress we have seen with Disney, comes from the hands of the workers, who have been advocating that the company do more to fight for LGTBQ+ rights in the US. This series was originally recommended by Kitchener-Waterloo’s Spectrum, a queer community space which offers a range of programming to queer folks in the Region. Each episode of the 6-part series, focuses on a decade of gay rights, beginning with the 50s.
I had braced myself before starting the show because frankly, I am so used to LGTBQ media, being utterly depressing. I found myself binging POSE, until the second season episodes left me feeling extremely defeated. Gay history is often portrayed as endless hate from fundamentalist christians and the government. It often focuses on the darkest days of our history, assassinations of queer icons like Harvey Milk or the Aids Pandemic. While these are very real events that have taken place, it can leave me feeling overwhelmed and hopeless for the future ahead as we watch trans rights being bulldozed and queer hate crimes on the rise. I know the pain of the queer community. I have lived it through losing my family at 15 and ending up in foster care because my parents discovered I was queer. I lived on the streets, I experienced homophobia in my work places, school and foster home. Yet, I knew very little of our strength as a community. The strength which I inherited as a queer, in addition to the pain.
Through watching this docu-series, I learned about gay activists like Bayard Rustin, who led and organized many of the peaceful protests during the Civil Rights Movement alongside Martin Luther King. Audre Lorde, a black poet, feminist and lesbian advocate for gay rights. I learned about lesbian film makers who bravely created queer films. I learned about the deep history of black and trans women who started and spearheaded many of the queer movements. I learned about the protests and riots against the police that happened a decade before Stonewall. I learned about the underground drag balls. I watched several protests and fights of our people leading to changes in history and legislation. I watched black folks and queer folks join forces to fight for human rights and succeed.
One of the quotes I found most powerful, was by Audre Lorde. “Revolutions are not a one-off event, they don't take place in just one go, they are ongoing”. The interviewee then stated, “Queer history is a demonstration that we won in the past and that we can win again”. Revolutions happen when there is “A period of surplus, access and progression, followed by great regression”. Podcaster and Author, Matt Christman, would add that revolution is also seen when surplus and comfort is experienced and then pulled back from the general population by a small group of people in power. An example of this is seen in the history of queer riots against police brutality. As Marsha P. Johnson, A black trans woman and gay activist, stated in an interview after the Stonewall Riot, “We were just saying, 'no more police brutality' and 'we had enough of police harassment in the Village and other places.’”
Learning about these parts of queer history is the first time in a very long time, that I have felt a sense of hope for queer people and our ongoing fights. We have been here before. We have lived through times in which our human rights have been threatened and our existence made to be seen as extinguishable. Yet, as feminist Robin Taylor said in her speech during the First National March on Washington in 1979, “WE ARE EVERYWHERE!”. We will not be erased.
Listening to recordings of the 1979 Washington March speeches filled me with hope that our queer community can survive what is happening to us right now. We have already survived. Ending on another Marsha P. Johnson quote, “You never completely have your rights, one person, until you all have your rights”. When celebrating Pride this June, remember the grit we come from. Remember what we are fighting for. We will win again. Pride, is a protest. Pride, is a riot.
As an example of what I am expressing above, protestors against drag queen story times all over Ontario, have been greatly outnumbered by supporters of the LGTBQ+ community and queer members. With more queer visibility, has come more hate. However, in the rise of hate, there has simultaneously been a rise in queer support.
Brockville, Ontario (50 supporters, 14 protestors)
London, Ontario (“The number of counter-protesters greatly outweighed the number of protesters against drag queen story time”)
Peterborough, Ontario (THE FENCE OF PROTECTION: PROTESTORS OUTNUMBERED FOR THE THIRD TIME BY SUPPORTERS OF DRAG STORY TIME EVENT)