A reminder, the first Pride was a riot! 🏳️‍🌈 ✊🏿✊🏾✊🏽✊🏼✊🏻

"All men are created equal. No matter how hard they try, they can never erase those words. That is what America is about."  Harvey Milk

It is nearly impossible to read those words without thinking how far from that ideal we are as a country.  One must consider Pride month in the context of our history and this moment in time.  

"We are reminded that the first gay pride was a riot. the first gay pride was anti cop. the first gay pride was started by Black trans women and Black drag queens, there is no LGBTQ liberation without Black liberation."

"On June 28, 1969, at the Stonewall Inn on Christopher Street (the hub of the NYC Gay Community in the 1960s), things turned violent after a few LGBTQ people were arrested on questionable charges, handcuffed, and very publicly forced into police cars on the streets of NYC. The LGBTQ community was fed up with being targeted by the police and seeing these public arrests incited rioting that spilled over into the neighboring streets and lasted several days. These events have been collectively described as a “riot,” a “rebellion,” a “protest,” and an “uprising.” Whatever the label, this was certainly a watershed moment in LGBT history. Many eyewitnesses have identified Marsha P. Johnson as one of the main instigators of the uprising and thus, some have recognized her as the vanguard of the gay liberation movement in the United States." 

Earlier this week in Provincetown we expressed our outrage at the current state of affairs and committed to do anti-racist work. Black lives matter and white silence is violence; stop killing black people. We read countless names of black people killed by police and we must force change in this country. The protests are necessary, our history as a rainbow community around the world is intrinsically linked with protest and demanding justice in the face of homophobic and transphobic law enforcement. We must demand racial justice.

We pledge to do our part and educate ourselves and do our bit to force change.  We will not remain silent.