For “Pride,” we wanted to put out an issue describing what pride means to various members of the community, but there was a palpable communal heaviness and uncertainty about the state of Pride. When asked, people mostly said that they didn’t have the words and were generally unsure what to think anymore. How could they not be speechless?
On the last night I was in Seattle with Active Chapter for the art book fair, 19-year old Juniper Blessing was murdered.
As reported by The Daily UW, she loved Pokemon and the weather--especially hurricanes--which pushed her to study atmospheric science. Members of her chorale spoke of her kindness, thoughtfulness, and joy.
A week later, Eryka Caldwell was murdered in Bushwick, near where many of us work, live, love each other. In the streets, memorials for her keep her spirit present.
In the year since last June, there have also been the losses of, from Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, this past October, and Victoria Cruz, just a few days ago, both prominent activists present during the Stonewall era--Miss Major being a Stonewall veteran herself.
I had the honor of getting to hear Miss Major speak a few years ago at the Poetry Project. The room sat rapt with disbelief at the stories she told and the beauty of her age. Sometimes in talking about queer ancestors, people tend to flatten real people into symbols. The room was filled with gratitude, wrinkled trans people, and a feeling that we must hold people close before it is too late.
My friend Gein wrote the following, a paraphrase of what they said a trans elder told them: “I think my thoughts on pride are kinda common, pride was a riot and we wouldn't have what we have without trans women of color leading the movement for all of our rights.”
In response to the corporatizing and co-option of Pride by the State over the past two decades, people come to lean on the historical origins of Pride to find meaning, trying to honor these instead of getting swept up by the Svedka -sponsored floats. Although in recent years, we’ve seen a decline in corporations trying to get the queer dollar as the pendulum continues to swing toward rightwing extremism.
So how can we concretely honor the legacy of Pride and honor the struggles that continue to shape our community? I don’t have a lot of hard answers, but I think the following is a good place to start.
Learn history of groups that did the work and are doing the work (groups like S.T.A.R. can teach us a lot.)
Distribute pro-trans material. Make copies. Share freely.
Share hormones + supplies.
Share time (either directly, or through local orgs like SAGE where you can volunteer to help queer elders)
Share money.
Talk to people.
Refuse all transphobia / homophobia (even in jest). Confront.
Refuse to entertain cis logic. No self-effacement.
Hey, you can print for yourself or for others in your own neighborhood. The link is [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1a1FXIJ0ruSPrJh96haqDsuF6ZK7z8xpZ/view?usp=drive_link] and free for all. You can also purchase this to support the work we are doing on our Big Cartel at [https://activechapter.bigcartel.com/product/top-zine-edition-1-free]. These funds will go towards printing costs and expansions of future periodicals! Thank you and all love from Active Chapter.