At Lavender Celebration this year, I shared that every day we create LGBTQ+ futures and that this is a declaration and imagining of new realities. Our very existence is a declaration and a celebration. I want us to spend some time in the past as well - to time travel this Pride Month. Let’s honor the folx who have come before us and added to the imagining of Queer and Trans futures. Our Queer and Trancestors who imagined new time and new realities, who imagined and resisted and fought for new realities. Take the time to honor them, know them and thank them.
Who are your Queer and Trancestors?To Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia RiveraTo Gloria Anzaldúa and Alexa Negron LucianoTo Tony McDade and Nina PopTo those who lived and loved in time past with the hopes of times to come.
I share with you this poem by Jose Richard Aviles (they/them/he) (@soynalgona on Instagram), an activist, social worker, and urban planner. I highly encourage you to check out the spoken word version of it on Instagram and we will share it on our i3b Instagram (@umbc_i3b).
The spirituality of queernessA force field ofunconditional loveThe first flower to bloom inA post-apocalyptic heartOur claim to liberationIs in decipheringshadowsQueerness is a danceA choreography between shame and pleasureI have grown accustomed to their wandering eyesThe essence of my being ticklesTheir blushed cheeksI love unapologeticallyIn the name of the ancestors who had to love in secret
What does it mean for us to be a good descendant? How can we honor the legacies that have come before us, while paving the way for a time to come? How can we be the time travelers of the imagining and working towards a different time and space? All of these questions are for us to make the time to reflect and honor this Pride Month and beyond. And to remember that we too, in time, will be Queer and Trancestors.
Further Reading:
UMBC Pride Month Happenings:
LGBTQ+ Pride Month Art Submissions-The Counseling Center
More information in this POST!
East Coast Prides happening this summer:
Baltimore Pride, June 13th-20th
-Virtual Pride Broadcast and Parade on June 19, 1-4pm
More Info: http://baltimorepride.org/
Philly Pride
-Moved to Saturday, September 4, 2021-Labor Day Weekend
More Info: http://www.phillygaypride.org/
Capital (DC) Pride, June 1-31
-Colorful Pridemobile Parade on June 12, 3-6pm
More Info: https://www.capitalpride.org/
NYC Pride
-The March on Sunday, June 27, 2021
Local Baltimore Organizations
Baltimore Safe Haven
The Pride Center of Maryland
Free State Justice
-Storytelling Event on June 10th
National Museum:
Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art in NYC
If you want some tunes to celebrate this month, make sure to check out DJ Erin’s Spotify playlist from our 8th Annual Lavender Celebration that happened in May!