Yesterday, today, and tomorrow
This Black History Month (February 2024), we celebrate the long history and the beauty, resilience, and joy of Black queer communities globally, yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Each week, we celebrate a different era in the history and story of Black queer folk. Stay tuned on this page to celebrate Black history month with us!
Celebrating the acceptance and love for queer people shown across African culture before European Colonisation
Black African culture has long celebrated differences in gender identity and sexual orientation, with a direct correlation between British or French colonisation in the past, and existing anti-LGBTQI legislation today.
Black communities in the Caribbean today continue in many places to live under those same colonial oppressors, ensuring continued difficulty for these communities experiencing the continued blight of colonialism.
The belief that African and Caribbean nations and people, or Black communities in Europe and the West, treat LGBTQI folk with any less respect is a myth created to uphold the false narrative that White Western people are inherently more progressive — and ultimately an expression of White supremacy.
For further reading on this you can check out this piece on the subject from UK LGBT organisation Stonewall — it’s insightful, well-referenced, and a good place to start to learn more.
.webp)
Celebrating the Black queer activists and liberationists of the Stonewall era of the queer movement
Stonewall is an important milestone in the history of the queer rights movement in the West. It is the foundational mythology of many queer folk across the globe, and central to that mythology are the Black community leaders who stood up for their community.
The Stonewall riots took place in late June and early July 1969 in New York City’s iconic Stonewall Inn, a haven for queer folk in a time when they faced violence and discrimination unthinkable today. The BIPoC queer community of New York faced not only this queerphobia however, also dealing with a deeply racist Police Department and society.
In the larger scope of American history the Stonewall Riots came at a turning point, as the Civil Rights movement for Black Liberation was at the pinnacle of what it would achieve. Decades of Black activism had created a generation of strategic, wise and generous Black activists who understood the need for liberation of all people.
With this context in mind it should be unsurprising that in 1969 when police raided the stonewall Inn it was Black activists who refused to accept the violence. Black activists who by all accounts lead the community to fight back and stand up for their right to safety and community.
Despite many attempts in the 55 years since to erase the leadership of Black community members at Stonewall, we remember them today with great admiration and thanks for their courage and action. There are three BIPoC activists who stand tall in the memory of that time who we recommend researching further:
- Miss Major Griffin-Gracy - a Black trans woman, Miss Major was present on the first night of the Stonewall rebellion. After Stonewall she dedicated her life to activism working to support those with HIV/AIDS and trans people in prison.
- Stormé DeLarverie - a Black lesbian activist who fought back against the removal of queer women in handcuffs, a key spark in what she would later call not a riot but a rebellion and an uprising.
- Marsha P Johnson - a Black drag queen, much speculation about Marsha’s exact participation in the event and their identity has taken place since 1969. What we do know is that Marsha was a queer liberation activists for decades before and after Stonewall, using the money she made from her sex work to house LGBTQI youth in New York
- Sylvia Rivera - a latinx person, Sylvia explored her gender identity throughout life and was only 17 during the events at Stonewall. While Sylvia’s presence at Stonewall isn’t certain, in many ways she is the first of the post-Stonewall generation of queer liberation activists.
.webp)
Article: A Call for Intersectional Solidarity by IGLYO Board Member Taj Donville-Outerbridge (He/They)
Tying back to contemporary times and activism, dive into our final article for Black History Month 2024, A Call for Intersectional Solidarity by IGLYO Board Member and treasurer Taj Donville-Outerbridge (He/They). In this piece Taj discusses the essential nature of intersectional solidarity within our movements, explains how to put that solidarity into practice and offers some top tips to achieve this. Read the article.