Pride Month: Supporting the Black LGBTQ+ Community
“If your concept of Black Liberation does not include Black trans, queer, & disabled folxs, you’re not for Black Liberation.”
Hello Friends!
Welcome to Issue 3 of this newsletter! This week’s topic is Supporting the Black LGBTQ+ Community. If you support Black liberation, you have to support justice for ALL Black people. This week, we’ll be going through some important vocab to understand, a breakdown of statistics that make it abundantly clear that Black trans people, specifically Black trans* womxn (we will define that word more below) experience violence more than any other marginalized group, and sharing resources to continue your education.
I encourage you to make a real donation to one of the organizations listed at the end of this newsletter, because while learning and having conversations is fundamental and imperative, donating is paramount. Next week I will be donating $1 for everyone that works out with me on Monday and Thursday to an LGBTQ+ organization. Why not workout with me and then match my donation? Let’s get into it!
Key Terms
Gender: Gender refers to the socially constructed characteristics of women and men, such as norms, roles, and relationships of and between groups of women and men. It varies from society to society and can be changed.
Sex: “Sex” tends to relate to biological differences. For instance, male and female genitalia, both internal and external are different. Similarly, the levels and types of hormones present in male and female bodies are different.
Sexual Orientation: An inherent or immutable enduring emotional, romantic or sexual attraction to other people.
Gender Identity: One’s innermost concept of self as male, female, a blend of both or neither – how individuals perceive themselves and what they call themselves. One's gender identity can be the same or different from their sex assigned at birth.
Queer: An umbrella term to describe individuals who don’t identify as straight and/or cisgender
Trans*: An umbrella term covering a range of identities that transgress socially-defined gender norms. Trans with an asterisk is often used in written forms (not spoken) to indicate that you are referring to the larger group nature of the term, and specifically including non-binary identities, as well as transgender men (transmen) and transgender women (transwomen).
Gender Non Conforming: A gender descriptor that indicates a non-traditional gender expression or identity. A gender identity label that indicates a person who identifies outside of the gender binary.
Cisgender: Agender description for when someone’s sex assigned at birth and gender identity correspond in the expected way
Womxn: A woman (used, especially in intersectional feminism, as an alternative spelling to avoid the suggestion of sexism perceived in the sequences m-a-n and m-e-n, and to be inclusive of trans and nonbinary women)
Folxs: A variation on the word folks, folx is meant to be a gender-neutral way to refer to members of or signal identity in the LGBTQ community.
Non Binary: Noting or relating to a person with a gender identity or sexual orientation that does not fit into the male/female or heterosexual/gay divisions.
Let’s Get Into It
There are tons of resources to better understand the experiences of LGBTQ+ people in America and around the world, but let’s just cover some of the big issues.
Often, the first thing we hear about the LGBTQ+ community is related to the violence and discrimination that they experience. While those facts are valid and important, it’s also necessary and vital to celebrate the innovation, creativity, resilience and joy of the LGBTQ+ community. Check out the links below for a celebration of LGBTQ+ greatness.
Under Trump, LGBTQ+ Progress Is Being Reversed In Plain Sight
Just a few weeks after his inauguration, Trump’s administration rescinded the transgender student guidance which required schools to protect transgender students from harassment, accommodate their preferred names and pronouns and give them access to the locker rooms and bathrooms of their choice.
In a reversal from the Obama administration, the Trump administration has repeatedly taken the position that laws and regulations that prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex do not cover a person discriminated against for being gay or transgender.
The administration has barred transgender people from joining the military.
Trump’s position is that being gay or transgender as a category of identity that is different from “biological sex” and therefore not protected under current law.
Facts & Figures
16% of Americans over 18 report knowing or working with someone who is transgender. (GLAAD)
In 2019, advocates tracked at least 27 deaths of at least transgender or gender non-conforming people in the U.S. due to fatal violence, the majority of whom were Black transgender women. (HRC)
2020 has already seen at least 15 transgender or gender non-conforming people fatally shot or killed by other violent means. We say at least because too often these stories go unreported -- or misreported. (HRC)
LGBTQ+ young adults has a 120% higher risk of reporting homelessness compared to youth who identified as heterosexual and cisgender. (HRC)
Black survivors of hate violence are 1.3 times more likely to experience police violence than their non-Black counterparts. (HRC)
Intersectionality is a framework for conceptualizing a person, group of people or social problem as affected by a number of discriminations and disadvantages. It takes into account people’s overlapping identities and experiences in order to understand the complexities of their experience.
Resources
Don’t subscribe to these podcasts or read these books just to “celebrate pride” as many of these websites suggest —- do it because queer people, trans* people, gay people, gender non-binary people and all Black people deserve to be understood, seen, protected, heard, valued and supported.
Next week we are focusing on How to Be a Good Ally. Believe Black people! Listen! Hear! Keep talking and learning and growing. See you next week!
