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Stonewall Rising: Showing Support With Pride

GayRVA Staff | July 2, 2020

Topics: alexsis rodgers, black lives matter, Black Pride RVA, Diversity Richmond, Equality Virginia, health brigade, Jennifer McClellan, Joseph Papa, LGBTQ Pride Month, Marcus-David Peters, Minority Veterans of America, Nationz Foundation, Pride Month, Rebecca Keel, Richmond Lesbian Feminists, Richmond LGBTQ Chamber, Richmond Triangle Players, Southerners on new ground, Stonewall Rising, Stonewall Sports, va pride, Virginia Anti-Violence Project

Last weekend’s Stonewall Rising march was an act of solidarity by Richmond’s LGBTQ community, which took this opportunity during Pride Month to march in support of Black lives.

On Saturday, June 27, Richmond’s LGBTQ community commemorated the last weekend of Pride Month with a march demonstrating solidarity with the Black community of Richmond and beyond. Stonewall Rising: LGBTQ March For Black Lives was organized by a variety of Richmond LGBTQ advocacy and support groups, including Diversity Richmond, the Richmond LGBTQ Chamber, Nationz Foundation, Black Pride RVA, VA Pride, Equality Virginia, Virginia Anti-Violence Project, Southerners On New Ground, Health Brigade, Minority Veterans of America, Richmond Triangle Players, Richmond Lesbian Feminists, and Stonewall Sports.

The march began with a gathering at Diversity Richmond on Sherwood Ave, where local LGBTQ activist Rebecca Keel rallied the crowd with a speech about how the LGBTQ rights movement began 51 years earlier — almost to the day — at Stonewall Inn with a riot against police oppression. After a few other speeches, the crowd formed up and began marching toward the Richmond Police Training Academy on Graham Rd, just over a mile away from Diversity Richmond.

Jennifer McClellan speaks at Richmond Police Training Academy.

The crowd, which numbered at least 1000 at the peak of the protest according to local LGBTQ activist Joseph Papa, carried signs featuring slogans like “Black Trans Lives Matter” and “Pride For Black Lives,” as well as posters depicting Breonna Taylor and Marcus-David Peters. The protest was greeted at the Police Training Academy by a line of police in riot gear, but things remained peaceful. Several leaders spoke to the assembled crowd, including Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jennifer McClellan. Alexsis Rodgers, who is currently running for mayor of Richmond, was also in attendance. The evening ended with a march back to Diversity Richmond.

Here are some photos of the evening’s events, captured by Richmond photographer David Kenedy.

Rebecca Keel.

Stepping Back From The Spotlight

Carley Welch | June 18, 2020

Topics: black lives matter, James Millner, LGBTQ Pride Month, protests, va pride

June is Pride Month, but at a time of widespread unrest and protests, Virginia Pride is putting aside celebration in favor of focusing its efforts on supporting Virginia’s black community.

Virginia Pride, a local non-profit organization dedicated to bringing support to the LGBTQ community through education and events, is finding ways to support the black community in a time where systemic racism is finally being brought to light.

“We as a board are looking very carefully at what role we as an organization, an LGBTQ organization, can play in that,” said James Millner, president of Virginia Pride. “There are no real easy answers.”

With June being Pride Month, Virginia Pride had planned a busy month of events celebrating the LGBTQ community. However, between the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and the struggles the black community continues to face, the organization decided to cancel said events.

“The things that we had planned just felt out of place in this moment,” Millner said. “We as an LGBTQ organization did not feel it was appropriate for us to be taking up any space that could and should be occupied by black people and black voices.”

Millner said in the coming weeks, his organization will continue to brainstorm how to ensure that black voices are heard, but it’s been a little bit tricky because he wants to make sure they are “helping, not hurting” the situation.

Millner said they’ve reached out to their supporting black-led and black-centered organizations to offer their support and to let them know that Virginia Pride is there to listen. They’ve also used their social media platforms to help lift and amplify black voices.

Stopping to listen instead of trying to lead in a time like this is something Millner said is essential. Though he said listening is not nearly enough because “inaction is no longer acceptable,” he urged that listening to the oppressed instead of trying to take charge immediately is the best thing white people can do right now. 

“The first thing we need to do, to be honest with you, is to listen to black people,” Millner said. “I think it’s very easy for particularly white LGBTQ people and well-meaning white people to want to jump in and lead in this instance. I think that this is a situation in which we need to make sure that we listen first… That we leverage the privileges that we have, [and] use those resources that we have, to support, to amplify black voices.”

Photo by Lauren Serpa

Supporting the Black Community During Pride Month

Carley Welch | June 10, 2020

Topics: black lives matter, Citizens Review Board, Diversity Richmond, LGBTQ Pride Month, Marcus Alert, Marcus-David Peters, Nationz Foundation, police violence, Pride Month, protests, Side By Side, Tony McDade, Virginia Anti-Violence Project

It’s Pride month, and in a time of frustration and action over police violence, local LGBTQ organizations are focusing their advocacy and support efforts on helping and uplifting the black LGBTQ community.

Tear gas and pepper spray sting the eyes of protesters. Masked individuals of all demographics hold cardboard signs reading “Black Lives Matter” and quirky meme slogans. They are a perfect picture of the people who are lining the streets of America, but more specifically here in Richmond — a place where dozens of LGBTQ organizations are attempting to celebrate Pride month in a time of a revolution, and lest we forget, a global pandemic.

In a time where social injustice is finally being put in the spotlight, the intersecting struggles of minorities, especially those who are both black and members of the LGBTQ community, is being brought to light. What does it mean to be black in America right now? What does it mean to be black and a member of the LGBTQ community right now?

Various LGBTQ organizations around Richmond are attempting in different ways to bring attention to these questions while doing their part to support the black community. 

Side by Side, a local organization dedicated to offering support allowing LGBTQ youth to not only be themselves but also flourish, is speaking out, encouraging the city’s government to put the Marcus Alert into action and to implement the creation of a Civilian Review Board to oversee the Richmond Police Department. 

The Marcus Alert will mandate that mental health professionals accompany police during any calls of a mental health crisis or wellness checks, as well as reforming the Crisis Intervention Training provided to law enforcement. Creating a Civilian Review Board would form an independent body made up of community members, particularly Black and Latinx, in an attempt to hold police accountable for their actions.

“We really wanted to think of tangible next steps that our city could take to better protect everyone,” said Ted Lewis, executive director at Side by Side. “The Marcus alert and the Independent Civilian Review Board are pretty basic asks of our city and our police department that would ensure better mental health and safety for everybody.”

In addition to making calls to support the Marcus Alert and review board, Side by Side has also converted its (currently virtual) support groups into conversations surrounding the Black Lives Matter movement, the killings, and the protests.

“We have a youth of color group that meets every other week, and so that’s a space specifically for LGBTQ youth of color to process,” Lewis said. “But we’re also working in majority-white youth group spaces to focus on how to combat racism and implicit bias and work towards an anti-racism way of being, if you will.”

Photo by John Donegan

These support groups have provided a space where LGBTQ youth can talk about their feelings, whether that be scared, angry, frustrated, or anything and everything in between. Lewis said for many kids and young adults, social media has played a role in anxiety and fear surrounding the killings and protests. 

“I think that for black LGBTQ youth, there is the additional trauma and fear that comes with seeing the social media images of the killings, over and over again,” Lewis said. “While it’s important that that story be told, it can be traumatizing to see someone who looks like you die at the hands of someone who, in theory, is supposed to serve and protect you.”

Similarly to Side by Side, local LGBTQ organization Virginia Anti-Violence Project is also providing a safe space for members of the LGBTQ and black communities to unite and educate people during this time. Ebony Kirkland, program director at VAVP, said that, as an organization that’s staffed by black and brown people, it only seemed right to start conversations and provide a safe space for black members of the LGBTQ community.

Kirkland said it’s also VAVP’s duty to inform people about transgender black people who have been murdered by police, in addition to some of the more commonly known people that have been killed by police violence, such as George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.

“All black lives matter. All black lives matter,” Kirkland said. “That includes black trans lives, that includes all LGBTQ lives. It doesn’t just mean cisgender black lives.”

Zakia McKensey, executive director at Nationz Foundation, an organization supporting the LGBTQ community by providing access to  HIV and STI testing, also finds it imperative that people realize that all black lives matter — no matter their sexual or gender identity.

McKensey said Nationz Foundation hasn’t planned any events in the midst of the protests, but still supports the black community regardless of all that is happening now. The reason the organization hasn’t planned anything is due to her own personal feelings surrounding the current protest movement.

“Tony McDade was also killed on May 27, who was a trans man, and you don’t hear anything about that,” McKensey said. “Nothing is being said about his life that was taken by police officers. And then to actually see a video from Minneapolis, Minnesota of a trans woman [Iyanna Dior] being attacked by 30 black individuals who were supposedly protesting, in a store, is frustrating.”

McKensey, being a black transgender woman herself, said until the cis black community accepts the LGBTQ black community, she’ll have an issue with “the whole Black Lives Matter movement.”

Tony McDade (Photo via Facebook)

Over at Diversity Richmond, a long-running LGBTQ advocacy and support organization that funds other similar organizations, they’re using Pride month to not only support the LGBTQ community, but specifically the black LGBTQ community. They’re doing so by making all their newsletters and social media focus on race relations during the month of June. They’re featuring an annual event that they usually do in February as a part of Black History Month, their “Black and Bold” awards, where they recognize outstanding LGBTQ leadership of black LGBTQ leaders.

Diversity Richmond Executive Director Bill Harrison said that, while they’ve planned to continue to raise awareness and education through social media, they’re still brainstorming on what more they can do for the black community. Harrison said he’s dedicated to supporting this community and all intersections of it, but he’s always open to suggestions and ways to do better as a white man who will never truly understand the pain and fear black people go through on a daily basis.

“A few times in my life that I’ve been stopped by the police, I might have been mad with the cop because they caught me speeding, or I might have been mad with myself, but never once when I saw him approach me in my side-view mirror did I have a fear for my life,” Harrison said. “That is a very real thing that happens every day, and so when I hear white people say, ‘Just get over it. Why are you doing this? Why are you doing that?’ I just cringe, because I know that response is coming out of complete ignorance.”

While the nation is using this time to move forward and grow, ignorance is one thing that many leaders and executives are tirelessly attempting to extinguish. And ending ignorance takes effort, Kirkland explained. It’s not the job of the oppressed to educate those who aren’t being oppressed, but the other way around. 

“I think folks should also look for the information. If you have a desire to learn more, then I think you should also educate yourself and look for other resources to help you understand other perspectives,” said Kirkland. “And not just go straight to that black person or that brown person to do that work, that labor, for you. Be willing to do that labor yourself.”

Top Photo by John Donegan

Done With Dunn

Abigail Buchholz | July 4, 2019

Topics: anti-LGBTQ politicians, Equality Loudoun, Juneteenth, Leesburg Town Council, LGBTQ Pride Month, Loudoun County, Moms Demand Action, NAACP, Tom Dunn

A Leesburg Town Councilman’s decision to write contentious comments on proclamations for LGBTQ Pride Month and Juneteenth resulted in protest and demands for his resignation. But he hasn’t left yet.

Chants of “Done with Dunn” echoed across the grass lawn of the Leesburg Town Hall on Tuesday, June 25. The individuals gathered at this “Rainbows for Leesburg” event represented the outraged members of the NAACP, Equality Loudon and Moms Demand Action. 

The spark that lit the fire under these protesters was Leesburg Town Councilman Tom Dunn’s decision on June 11 to write, for the third time in two weeks, his personal opinion on a town proclamation.  

On May 28, on a proclamation regarding gun violence delivered to Moms Demand Action, Dunn wrote: “People are violent, Guns are not.”

On June 11, on a proclamation that both established a memorial for Loudoun lynching victim Orion Anderson and officially recognized the celebration of Juneteenth, the anniversary of the date when slavery officially ended in the South, Dunn wrote: “Juneteenth is a celebration, lynching is not.”

Then, on a LGBTQ Pride Month Proclamation, fellow Leesburg Town Councilman Josh Thiel transcribed Dunn’s comments onto the proclamation: “Everyone is equal, identities don’t help.”

Both the Loudoun County NAACP and Equality Loudoun have since called for Dunn’s resignation, contending that he violated the Leesburg town council’s code of ethics by including his personal opinion on town proclamations.

Photo by Abigail Buchholz

Before the crowd attending Rainbows for Leesburg entered the town hall, several officials and members of the community spoke.

Charlotte McConnell, a steering committee member for Equality Loudon, stood before the crowd wielding a gay pride flag and a microphone. Her reading of the words Dunn wrote on the LGBTQ Pride Month proclamation — “Everyone is equal, identities don’t help” — was greeted with shouts of “so wrong” from the crowd.

“We live in a very unequal society and we do aspire for equality, but we have a long road ahead of us,” said McConnell, before calling for councilman Dunn’s resignation.

Mayor Kelly Burk and Vice Mayor Fernando “Marty” Martinez also spoke to the crowd, condemning Dunn’s actions.

In the days before the rally, Mayor Kelly Burk stated that she had repremanded Dunn at a public meeting, and called for him to apologize to all three groups. She said that the majority of the Town Council is very upset, and that she believes that Dunn’s actions were wrong, inappropriate, and unprecedented. 

At the rally, between the chants for Dunn’s resignation, Burk said, “I want you to know that I’m with you. I stand with you, and I believe what you believe in.”

Councilman Martinez praised the people gathering on the lawn, and encouraged them to continue showing up to Town Council meetings to share their stories and educate the council. 

Martinez stressed the importance of the council hearing these stories, in order to “understand the discrimination, the horrors of what happens to some of our LGBT members, especially transgender women and what has been happening to them. We need more of that to come out in the open so people can understand, and see that you are not just an organization that has LGBT on it. You are real people — women and men — that have had issues with this society and are trying to be a part of it.” 

Photo by Abigail Buchholz

During the Leesburg Town Council meeting that night, several members of the community spoke to the council, both in favor of and in opposition to Dunn’s resignation.

Sylvia Glass, a Democrat running for Supervisor in the Broad Run District, began the call for Dunn’s resignation. “I find it reprehensible that councilman Dunn violated the Leesburg town council’s code of ethics  numerous times with his personal comments on proclamations meant to acknowledge the often forgotten members of our community,” she said. “I am also disappointed in councilman Thiel’s complacency in councilman Dunn’s actions.” 

Pastor Michelle Thomas, President of the NAACP’s Loudoun County chapter, criticized the complacency she perceived from some council members who had not called for Dunn’s resignation. “Silence is consent,” she said. “To ignore evil is to become an accomplice to all of it, and you are all accomplices. God help you.”

Dunn was not only condemned by those holding official positions within the community. Loudoun teenager Emma Saville brought the house down with her words on the importance of identity. “I am a member of Pride,” she said. “Before I found my identity, before I found a word to say who I was at heart, I felt lost. I felt broken.”

Saville further criticized Dunn’s claim on the Pride Month proclamation that “everyone is equal.” “To hear someone say that everyone is equal, to me, even as a 15, soon-to-be 16-year-old, seems like a blatant lie to my face,” she said, telling stories of the anti-LGBTQ Instagram pages plaguing her school, and the harrassment she has faced as a part of Loudoun County’s LGBTQ community.

Several Dunn supporters spoke to defend the councilman’s actions and his right to free speech.

Sandy Kane, from the CedarWood area of Leesburg, argued to the council that Dunn’s continuous reelection by Leesburg residents showed their support for him and that he therefore should not resign. “If they did not want him to represent them, they would not have voted for him,” she said.

She continued by casting aspersions on the groups who’d objected to Dunn’s comments. “I was appalled to think that this Town Council could be railroaded by groups such as the NAACP, which has no standing in the town of Leesburg,” she said. “It is not rooted in the town of Leesburg, it has no reason to request the Town Council to censure, or require a member of its council to leave this seat.”

Later at the meeting Harold Brown echoed her sentiments. “That man has every right to his opinion, just like you do,” he said. “Any one of you who knuckle under to the NAACP or any one of these other mickey mouse organizations, you should be ashamed of yourself.”

Photo via Equality Loudoun/Twitter

This argument for free speech was refuted by the words of McConnell, who pointed out that, “On official town documents, there is no place for your personal opinion.” 

Robin Burk, the Chair of Education for the Loudoun County NAACP, said, “The public expects and deserves council members who hold themselves and each other to high standards.”

Later, during the Council Comments section, Councilman Ron Campbell called for more transparency in the operations of the council in order to regain the trust of the community, and for a further discussion of ethics. “The rules are not optional,” he said. “A code of ethics exists, and it can be debated like anything else, and voted on.”

Councilman Dunn then spoke in defense of each of the three comments he made on town proclamations. His defense for his comments on the LGBTQ Pride Month proclamation was one he based on his own experiences of having a special-needs son. However, rather than seeing the similarity between the stares his son receives in public and the discrimination faced by the LGBTQ community as requiring support for both LGBTQ people and the disabled, Dunn claimed to see any recognition of difference as inherently divisive. “I believe that there are people in our history who have used identities to harm other people,” he said.

The NAACP, Equality Loudon, and several members of the town council, including Neil Steinberg, Fernando Martinez, Ron Campbell, and Mayor Kelly Burk continue to call for Dunn’s resignation. However, Councilman Dunn has not shown any indication that he will follow through with these demands. 

Top Photo via Equality Loudoun/Twitter

Rainbows Over Carytown

Hadley Chittum | July 3, 2019

Topics: AlterNatives, Carytown, Carytown Pride Parade, Diversity Richmond, LGBTQ Pride Month, Pride Month, Tara Byte

The first-ever Carytown Pride Parade brightened up the last weekend of Pride Month with the sights, sounds, and colors of Pride.

Dogs, babies, families, drag queens, and many more came out to celebrate the last weekend of Pride month at the first-ever Carytown Pride Parade on Saturday. 

The event, hosted by AlterNatives boutique, started with a parade where participants marched down the sidewalks of Cary Street sporting rainbow outfits, facepaint, and flags. 

“We wanted to show our support [to the LGBTQ community] and join in the Pride month festivities,” said AlterNatives’ manager Tiffany Refazo, explaining the inspiration behind the parade. 

Attendees visited vendors’ tables at the parade after-party. Photo by Hadley Chittum.

According to Refazo, event organizers were very impressed with the turnout, boasting approximately 200 participants despite temperatures being in the nineties. 

The parade after-party in the AlterNatives backyard featured booths from organizations like Diversity Richmond and free HIV and STD testing by Nationz Foundation. Attendees made bracelets or had their face painted while watching a drag performance by local Richmond performers. 

Valerie and Teresa McCall, a couple originally from New York City, particularly loved the drag show. “It reminded us of being back in New York,” said Valerie. 

Drag queen Millennium C. Snow performs onstage, wrapping up the first-ever Carytown Pride Parade. Photo by Hadley Chittum.

Though the parade and party was hosted by AlterNatives, other Carytown businesses including Mongrel, Chop Suey, Ladles and Linens, Bombshell, Lex’s, and Sugar and Twine contributed to the Pride celebration by raising money to donate to Diversity Richmond. 

This year’s parade was the first of its kind, but Carytown businesses are planning to continue the tradition with more Pride events next year.

“This year was a learning experience but we are definitely planning on hosting this next year — maybe even at a bigger location,” Refazo said.

Drag queen Millennium C. Snow speaks with AlterNatives store manager Tiffany Refazo before the Carytown Pride Parade. Photo by Hadley Chittum.
Miranda Waddy gets a rainbow flag painted on her arm before walking in the parade. Photo by Hadley Chittum.
Summer Aranda walks down Cary Street with a trans pride flag in honor of her transgender daughter. Photo by Hadley Chittum.
Two participants decked out in flags walk and talk during the parade. Photo by Hadley Chittum.
Customers have a meal in New York Deli while marchers are seen in the reflection of the window. Photo by Hadley Chittum.
A participant waves a bisexual pride flag. Photo by Hadley Chittum.
Marchers wrote messages of support for the LGBTQ community on a banner outside AlterNatives. Photo by Hadley Chittum.
The alley connecting Cary Street to the AlterNatives backyard after-party was decorated with rainbow streamers and flowers. Photo by Hadley Chittum.
Drag queens get changed between performances inside AlterNatives. Photo by Hadley Chittum.
Participants cooled off from the heat inside the rainbow-decorated AlterNatives store. Photo by Hadley Chittum.

Top Photo: Participants walked from AlterNatives boutique down to Arthur Ashe Boulevard for the parade; by Hadley Chittum.

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