In Our Own Words:

The Words Of Black LGBTQ Leaders, In Honor Of Jeneteenth And Pride Month

“Pride month, to be clear, is an extension of Black History Month,” says David J. Johns, Director of the National Black Justice Coalition. He cited the efforts of a transgender black activist who helped spark the Stonewall uprising in New York City 50 years ago — “one member in a long legacy of young queer people who fought for the rights of others.”

By Rachel Allen contributor

“For me, Juneteenth is significant in that it highlights what was done centuries ago. But it should only be an initiating catalyst for the work that should continue because people are still not free.”

E. Taylor Doctor

I am not free while any woman is unfree, even when her shackles are very different from my own.

Audre Lorde

When I first started, people would ask me: ‘Who are my opponents?'” she said. “At that point in time, I didn’t have any physical opponents, but I would say to people, ‘my opponents are racism, sexism, and transphobia …

Andrea Heal Jenkins others

To be a negro in this country and to be relatively conscious is to be in a rage almost all the time.

James Baldwin

How many years has it taken people to realize that we are all brothers and sisters and human beings in the human race? I mean how many years does it take people to see that? We’re all in this rat race together!

Marsha P. Johnson

I used to say that I did not believe that I would live to see the end of this epidemic. I don’t say that anymore. I believe that it is entirely possible that I will see the end of the epidemic, but we are at one of those deciding moments. Whether we end it now or not is totally up to us.

Trust is to human relationships what faith is to gospel living. It is the beginning place, the foundation upon which more can be built. Where trust is, love can flourish.

When an individual is protesting society’s refusal to acknowledge his dignity as a human being, his very act of protest confers dignity on him.

Bayard Rustin