Pride 2020: Solidarity Not Celebration

2020 is an infamous year like no other in the history of LGBTQ+ Pride so rather than a celebration during a pandemic, which is in and of itself a difficult task and tacitly inappropriate, I propose we gather ourselves, our thoughts, our actions, our energy, our resources and offer it all in solidarity to our fellow black and brown Americans. Their struggle is the struggle of our times, it's a constant life or death battle versus dangerous actions and ideologies that would and could just as easily be turned against us and frankly have been at various times throughout the span of our movement.

Our brave brothers and sisters who stood fast and fought back at the Stonewall riots in the summer of 1969 were doing so in response and opposition to a violent bigotry, oppression and mistreatment that is all too familiar and still festering in our society today. This is a battle we fought!

 In 1987 ACT UP was formed to take on the government's tragic inaction during the AIDS epidemic. Americans were dying in unnecessarily massive numbers due to blatant governmental downplaying and inertia. The fatalities of this contagion were disproportionately occurring in minority communities. Sound familiar? This is a battle we fought!

In 2020 the incendiary words and actions of the President knowingly foment division and partisanship when many in this country are crying out for unity, mutual respect and responsibility. Meanwhile bias and violence against our nation's black and brown communities continues on at a sickening pace taking many to an early grave while actively forced to stop breathing like George Floyd. Simultaneously the government's negligence and systemic societal inequities during the COVID 19 crisis claims the last breaths of countless more. They truly cannot breathe! This is a battle they must fight!

My Pride 2020 will not be a time of celebration but instead will be dedicated to standing in solidarity with the black and brown Americans who are engaged in this constant battle against the grim and unrelenting rivals of racial denigration, neglect, hatred and dehumanization. I offer my support to a movement that insists on all Americans acknowledging and respecting the humanity of  those forced to fight this battle every moment of their lives in this country! This is a battle WE must fight, together in solidarity during and beyond Pride 2020 until every one of us can live without the fear of our last breaths being extinguished!


"Please try to remember that what they believe, as well as what they do and cause you to endure does not testify to your inferiority but to their inhumanity." 
                           -James Baldwin

© 2020 Paul Caracciolo. Reproduction in whole or in part is strictly prohibited.