Legislatively Speaking
By Senator Lena C. Taylor
Lena C. Taylor
Every June, Pride Month is celebrated to raise awareness of the LGBTQI+ community. It is a time to reflect on the lives, families, contributions and issues of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.
According to History.com, far from the celebrations we see today, the first documented U.S. gay rights organization, The Society for Human Rights (SHR), was founded in 1924 by Henry Gerber, a German immigrant. America’s first lesbian rights organization, The Daughters of Bilitis, was formed in San Francisco on September 21, 1955.
When you think of these organizations, it would be easy to overlook the significance of African-Americans in the early struggle for freedom and acceptance of the LGBTQI+ community. Yet, it was Gladys Bentley (1907-1960), known as “Harlem’s most famous lesbian” in the 1930s, that exposed many to the idea of gender-bending. Literary and artistic giants like Lorraine Hansberry, James Baldwin, and Alvin Ailey were forces for racial justice and civil rights. Yet Hansberry, who wrote “A Raisin in the Sun”, never felt she could publicly acknowledge that she was gay. In fact, her sexuality wasn’t officially known until 2014, with the release of her personal diaries and writings.
Politicians, public policy thought leaders and activists such as Bayard Rustin, who helped to organize the 1963 March on Washington, or Barbara Jordan, the first African American elected to the Texas Senate and to represent the state in Congress, and Audre Lorde, who as a feminist, was discussing critical race theory and queer theory before many of us ever understood these concepts.
Without doubt, it was the 1969 Stonewall riots that put the rights of the LGBTQI+ community on the nation’s radar. Disparate and discriminatory treatment, sanctioned by Greenwich Village in lower Manhattan, New York, and enforced by the police set off resistance within the gay community. And while history has marginalized or omitted her name, a black transgender woman by the name of Marsha P. Johnson led protests to call attention to the plight of the gay community.
The first Gay Pride Parade was held in 1970. Some 53 years later, many of the old fights, bigotry and violence against the LGBTQIA+ community have remained or resurfaced. Trans women are being killed at alarming rates and Milwaukee has seen an uptick in attacks and deaths of this group. No one should die because of how they identify or whom they love.
In honor of Pride Month, the Biden-Harris Administration announced new measures to protect LGBTQI+ communities from attacks on their rights and safety. While more than a dozen states have enacted anti-LGBTQI+ laws that violate basic values and freedoms, the administration launched a new LGBTQI+ Community Safety Partnership with the Department of Justice, is supporting LGBTQI+ youth that addresses mental health resources and homelessness.
In addition, the Biden-Harris administration is working with the Department of Education to address book bans in public schools, deal with discrimination and create environments were all are valued and respected. I learned a long time ago that you don’t have to be a member of a group, to understand the value of a group. Just as June is used to observe Pride Month, it is also the celebration of Juneteenth. Hate and oppression knows no bounds. Pride comes in many forms, races and ethnicities. Real leadership requires that we remember that.