Culture

Black LGBTQ+ Leaders Honored in Congressional Resolution Marking Black History Month


 

Right in time for the end of Black History Month, the House of Representatives is considering a resolution that would honor Black LGBTQ+ figures.

Introduced last week by Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), House Resolution 170 seeks to recognize Black History Month as “an important time to celebrate the remarkable and unique contributions of all LGBTQ+ Black Americans in United States history,” according to its text resolution.

The resolution also names specific Black LGBTQ+ figures worthy of honor, including leaders both historical and contemporary. The latter names include pioneers like choreographer Alvin Ailey, social critic Audre Lorde, Black AIDS Institute founder Phill Wilson, civil rights leader Bayard Rustin, minister Pauli Murray, former Congresswoman Barbara Jordan, and athlete Glenn Burke, as well as Black Lives Matter co-founders Alicia Garza and Patrice Cullors.

Also mentioned are three of the activists said to be present at the 1969 Stonewall riots: Marsha P. Johnson, Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, and Stormé Delarverie.

Anna Finocchiaro

In a press release, Lee noted that the “accomplishments” of these Black LGBTQ+ trailblazers “have often been downplayed or ignored while they face the compounding impacts of racism and anti-LGBTQ+ bias.”

“As we celebrate Black History Month, it is critical that we honor the remarkable and unique contributions of all LGBTQ+ Black Americans throughout U.S. history — those whose names we easily recognize and those whose names we’ll never know,” the Congresswoman said. “This resolution is an important step in ensuring that their contributions are remembered and properly commemorated.”

The resolution also names several Black advocates working at top LGBTQ+ rights organizations across the country today. Some of those mentioned are Human Rights Campaign President Alphonso David, National Center for Lesbian Rights Executive Director Imani Rupert-Gordon, National Black Justice Coalition Executive Director and CEO David Johns, National LGBTQ Task Force Executive Director Kierra Johnson, and Trans Justice Funding Project Director Gabriel Foster.

Dominique Morgan, executive director of the abolitionist group Black and Pink, said she was caught unaware by her inclusion on the list as she was on a flight to Atlanta for a campaign launch. She said that she was initially excited to see names like Rustin, Johnson, Minneapolis City Council Vice President Andrea Jenkins on the list and didn’t realize she would stand alongside them.

“It still hadn’t occurred to me that my name would be associated with people I look up to — people whose dreams and work I hope I’m carrying on,” she told them. in an email. “As a Black trans woman who has experienced incarceration, solitary confinement, and many other systems of oppression, 10,000 feet in the air I felt the power of liberation in an unusual way. My people were being recognized for our power, and it wasn’t steeped in compromise or sadness.”



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