I had the privilege of speaking at the 2023 Columbus City Hall Illumination ceremony. Below is my written speech for the program:
It is important to know our history, to know how we arrived here–in this moment.
LGBTQ+ pride is part of American history and while LGBTQ+ history has often not been told–we must do the work of sharing the stories of those who have shaped our American history.
This year as we take space to celebrate, remember, and recognize our LGBTQ+ community let us remember the purpose of Pride. The Stonewall Uprisings, which took place 54 years ago, ignited a movement for liberation that continues to this day. And while some progress has been made, we know our fight is far from over. We still face discrimination, hate, and bigotry—and I don’t mean in some country thousands of miles away.
Columbus can be proud of our City and its elected officials for a long supportive history of the LGBTQ+ community. They have shown their commitment and support by implementing policies that protect our community from discrimination and by supporting LGBTQ+ organizations like Stonewall Columbus. We are grateful for their unwavering support and their dedication to making our city a more inclusive and welcoming place for all.
The LGBTQ+ community spans race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, ancestry, national origin, and different abilities. Over a period of fifty-four years, our community has banded together to fight against some of the most challenging situations of many of our lifetimes. We have survived laws that had their eyes in our bedrooms, battled the HIV/AIDS epidemic, challenged antiquated notions of marriage, fought for protections under Title VII, held corporations accountable to invest in our causes not singularly during Pride month, and in the face of bigotry we persist.
Our persistence is our power.
And that power is evident in the recognition of Pride in Columbus, which has grown tremendously since the first Pride march in Columbus in 1981. This year’s Pride theme, “Purpose. Passion. Power.” reminds us of the purpose of our protests, the passion that drives our community, and the power that we have when we come together to fight for equality and justice.
As we celebrate and recognize Pride this month, let us not forget the purpose of our fight, the passion that has driven us to this point, and the power that we hold when we come together in solidarity. We must work to uplift the various identities in our intersectional community, find ways that enable us to demonstrate our community’s capacity to make things happen, and stand in our power to create change.
The Stonewall Uprising of 1969, led by Black and brown transgender and gender-nonconforming people, marked a turning point in the fight for LGBTQ+ rights. It was a protest against police brutality and the injustices enacted on the LGBTQ+ community–that protest against systemic oppression sparked a movement that continues to this day.
We must remember that our recognition of Pride was not always seen as celebratory. For a long time, our celebration of our Pride was seen as a radical assault on normative values and did not include marginalized intersectional identities. But as we have come to know better, we must strive to do better, to find more ways to be inclusive. The evolution of our fight means that we must work to include the most of us, and not just some of us, as we push for equity, equality, and liberation for the intersectional identities among us–our people are our passion.
We stand in a moment of shared history when queer identities are being attacked with legislation unlike we’ve ever been attacked before, when the injustices enacted toward the LGBTQ+ community is at an all time high.
We are halfway into the year and over 540 anti-LGBTQ+ bills have been introduced in state legislatures, a record; over 220 bills specifically target transgender and non-binary people, also a record; and this year 45 anti-LGBTQ laws have been enacted…so far.
Fifty-four years post the Stonewall Uprisings we have much to celebrate but far more left in our fight.
In the month of June as our communities gather around the country to celebrate and recognize LGBTQ+ Pride across our intersectional identities we must ensure we do this in remembrance of our purpose, celebration of our passion, and as a demonstration of our power because we know as we fight to make and maintain spaces for queer identities to be seen and thrive, at the core this fight is about our Pride.
Columbus’s first march for pride was in 1981 and saw 200 people, some of whom wore face coverings to protect their identities, marching from the Ohio State University to the Statehouse not only in commemoration of the 1969 Stonewall Uprising but also in order to draw light to the community of LGBTQ+ individuals here in central Ohio who continued to live in secret afraid to live publicly in their truth; 42 years on and during our last in-person pride march the city welcomed hundreds of thousands of individuals in celebration and recognition of PRIDE.
And while we may be proud we are still under attack.
This year as we gather, let us remember the words of Audre Lorde in her powerful poem ‘A Litany for Survival,’ as they echo the essence of our struggle and the resilience that propels us forward.
‘For those of us who live at the shoreline
standing upon the constant edges of decision
crucial and alone
for those of us who cannot indulge
the passing dreams of choice
who love in doorways coming and going
in the hours between dawns…
For those of us
who were imprinted with fear
like a faint line in the center of our foreheads
learning to be afraid with our mother’s milk
for by this weapon
this illusion of some safety to be found
the heavy-footed hoped to silence us
For all of us
this instant and this triumph
We were never meant to survive.’
We draw strength from our collective power, knowing that true change emerges when we stand shoulder to shoulder, amplifying the voices of the marginalized, and dismantling the systems that perpetuate discrimination. Our power lies in our unity, in our commitment to showing up for each other, and in our unwavering belief that love and acceptance will triumph over hate.
Together, we will shape a world where every LGBTQ+ individual can live with dignity, where their dreams can flourish, and where their identities are celebrated.
This is our Purpose. Passion. Power.
‘We were never meant to survive…’
Yet, we persist and this is our Pride!
Happy Pride month Columbus!
