(cross posted from facebook)
today is the anniversary of the stonewall riot. this was a fierce fed-up fight back against persistent, consistent police violence and public shaming. it was 3 days of fighting, after so many years of humiliation.
every year we have pride to commemorate the riot. i thought about stonewall a lot as i marched a few weeks ago. i thought: who invited these banks? when did the police change sides? (have they?) how did we get here?
i don't know, but i do know this:
1) queer people are still subject to violence, are still publicly humiliated and shamed and outed.
2) being queer is still fabulous as fuck, and we all gotta get more free
and i have these two memories from my history:
1) as a baby my moms pushed my brother and i in a double stroller down the entire route of boston pride. people all the way along stood up, cheered, clapped, and cried. how had this become possible?
2) my moms and their friends walking in the pride, the mid 70s, firemen threw eggs out of the firehouse second story windows.
and though i still can't answer the question, 2 weeks ago i carried the sign shown below, with that same smile all the way down the route, and i saw this:
1) an old lez put one hand on her heart and another in a fist in the air. she was wearing an ACT UP t-shirt
2) an old butch held a scribbly sign that read: "butches and femmes for trans liberation"
3) old gay men who remembered horrible, unspeakable deaths, who nodded because they knew the history
4) so many baby queers who know it too, who want to know it better, who feel it and remember it.
on this anniversary, do something brave. get more free. ask someone else how you can help them get more free. DRESS UP. HAVE FUN. BE QUEER.