Black & Queer Pride
The summer of 2019 I worked at Lab/Shul for my supervised ministry. Intense, might be the only word to describe it. I’m so proud of the work we did to launch Partnerhood, the new community membership program.
Coming back to my blog, I’m realizing I never published a mini-sermon I gave at our Pride Shabbat Queen. Rabbi Amichai asked me and a couple others to speak about our ‘pride moment’. Mine was about Black and Queer Pride.
Brooklyn Public Library, June 2019
Pride. Say it with me for a second. Pride. Let it linger on your tongue and on your ears. Pride. This terse, monosyllabic word is rather boring compared to all the rainbow flags its meaning bedazzles. But, it’s a rather queer word, isn't it?
I’m not just talking a gay kind of queer.
I’m talking binary-busting, two-spirit embracing, linguistic queer.
Because pride is one of a few words that signify one thing and its opposite simultaneously.
What is hubris and arrogance? Pride.
What is deep satisfaction and dignity? Pride.
What plagued Mr. Darcy? Pride.
What bolstered Mx. LGBTQIA? Pride.
When we queer something we don’t just splash rainbows and glitter on it. We uproot dominant ideologies and we root ourselves in the uncomfortable space between and outside of “only this” and “only that.” But the word "pride" says, I will be “this” and “that” both. I will be your darkness and your light.
Pride is queer.
And as we queers know intimately—especially our trans and GNC siblings—pride takes courage. Which is fitting as the term comes from the Old French, prud, literally meaning “Brave.” Valiant. Courageous.
To exhibit self-love is an act of courage and pride. Courage can make a community flourish. Pride can make a community flourish.
This year, it feels Pride has jumped the shark. That's why many organizations— including Lab/Shul—will be at the anti-corporate, less policed Queer Liberation March instead of the World Pride March. But what’s been really getting to me is not just the “corporatization” of Pride, but ironically, its visibility.
"Gay pride” borrows the vernacular of Black Pride, a movement far older. With Juneteenth — Black America’s emancipation day — still fresh in my mind, I’m uncomfortable with the level of visibility queer pride gets. During Black History Month this February, I didn’t see Bank of America or Target or even Dig Inn revamp their stores and marketing to celebrate communities of color.
That's why this year, my pride moment came when I saw the Brooklyn Public Library had hung the rainbow flag with the additional brown and black stripes. Those stripes raise visibility for black and brown lives, queer or not.
And yes, they are just the beginning of a long road of visibility and equity for all, but they did redeem Pride for me this season. Because they spoke to both Black Pride and Queer Pride. And perhaps they even suggested that Pride—this queer word used in this queer season—can inspire the courage that America needs to make all communities flourish.