SECURITY WARNING: Please treat the URL above as you would your password and do not share it with anyone. See the Facebook Help Center
for more information.
SECURITY WARNING: Please treat the URL above as you would your password and do not share it with anyone. See the Facebook Help Center
for more information.
When I read the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter, I do think of Mike Brown, Eric Garner and Tamir Rice. I also think of Penny Proud, London Chanel and Candra Keels. But I also think of Andre and the two other young queer people of color who been murdered in Pittsburgh in the past two years.
It was like a switch flipped and I could see: privilege played (and will continue to play) a role in so many parts of my life, and by acknowledging and understanding that, I can use my inherent privilege to stand up to systematic inequality.
I feel that Southern queers could learn a thing or two about understanding privilege that many of them enjoy. Working on other issues that aren't necessarily "gay issues" may actually help to bridge whatever perceived divides there are between people of color and white gay folks.
We have long had problems with inclusiveness within the LGBT world. Pundits frequently express concern that the gay quest for respectability will be tainted by association with transgender folk. Racism within the gay community has a long and shameful history.
I want to make a confession. (This is Lent, after all, and I'm also an Episcopal priest.) I confess my own failures to connect the dots among sexism, racism, and homophobia and my failure to act on those vital connections.