Since 2009 I’ve shared every year during the month of June a series of “Queer Appreciation” posts. Each series is comprised of a number of informed and insightful writings to mark Gay Pride . . . or, as I prefer to call it (since 2011), Queer Appreciation. I always try to include in each series a diverse range of writers and topics; and, in general, the writings I share are positive, proactive and celebratory.
I start this year’s Queer Appreciation series with an excerpt from Zaylore Stout’s commentary, “Happy Pride: What Do We Have to Be Proud Of?,” first published June 8 by The Advocate.
Zaylore is an active advocate for LGBT issues, primarily through his law firm, Zaylore Stout & Associates, which specializes in representing HIV+ and transgender employees discriminated against at work. Zaylore is also the author of Our Gay History in Fifty States, and, like me, he is a resident of Minneapolis.
To read Zaylore Stout's commentary in its entirety, click here.
NEXT: Francis DeBernardo on the U.S. Supreme Court Ruling
on Title VII: “A Reason for All Catholics to Celebrate”
Related Off-site Links:
Meet Zaylore Stout – E.B. Boatner (Lavender, June 7, 2018).
LGBTQ Communities Are Elevating Black Voices During Pride 2020 in Solidarity – Francesca Giuliani-Hoffman (CNN, June 9, 2020).
No, We Should Not Condemn Uprisings Against Police Murders Like George Floyd’s – Peter Gowan (Jacobin, May 28, 2020).
Prolonged Uprising Is the New Normal – Jade Begay (Common Dreams, June 20, 2020).
In Defense of Destroying Property – R.H. Lossin (The Nation, June 10, 2020)
See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• “I Can’t Breathe”: The Murder of George Floyd
• He Called Mama. He Has Called Up Great Power
• Honoring George Floyd
• Emma Jordan-Simpson: “There Will Be No Peace Without Justice”
• Rallying in Solidarity with Eric Garner and Other Victims of Police Brutality
• In Minneapolis, Rallying in Solidarity with Black Lives in Baltimore
• “Say Her Name” Solidarity Action
• “We Are All One” – #Justice4Jamar and the 4th Precinct Occupation
• Nancy A. Heitzeg: Quote of the Day – March 31, 2016
• “This Doesn't Happen to White People”
• Remembering Philando Castile and Demanding Abolition of the System That Targets and Kills People of Color
The Wild Reed's 2019 Queer Appreciation series:
• Quote of the Day – May 31, 2019
• James Baldwin’s Potent Interweavings of Race, Homoeroticism, and the Spiritual
• John Gehring on Why Catholics Should Participate in LGBTQ Pride Parades
• A Dance of Queer Love
• The Queer Liberation March: Bringing Back the Spirit of Stonewall
• Barbara Smith on Why She Left the Mainstream LGBTQI Movement
• Remembering the Stonewall Uprising on Its 50th Anniversary
• In a Historic First, Country Music’s Latest Star Is a Queer Black Man
• Historian Martin Duberman on the Rightward Shift of the Gay Movement
• Queer Black Panther
The Wild Reed's 2018 Queer Appreciation series:
• Michelangelo Signorile on the Rebellious Purpose of Queer Pride
• Liberating Paris: Exploring the Meaning of Liberation in Paris Is Burning
• Stephanie Beatriz on the Truth of Being Bi
• Queer Native Americans, Colonialism, and the Fourth of July
The Wild Reed's 2017 Queer Appreciation series:
• Our Lives as LGBTQI People: “Garments Grown in Love”
• On the First Anniversary of the Pulse Gay Nightclub Massacre, Orlando Martyrs Commemorated in Artist Tony O'Connell’s “Triptych for the 49”
• Tony Enos on Understanding the Two Spirit Community
• Making the Connections
The Wild Reed's 2016 Queer Appreciation post of solace, inspiration and hope:
• “I Will Dance”
The Wild Reed's 2015 Queer Appreciation series:
• Vittorio Lingiardi on the Limits of the Hetero/Homo Dichotomy
• Reclaiming and Re-Queering Pride
• Standing with Jennicet Gutiérrez, “the Mother of Our Newest Stonewall Movement”
• Questions for Archbishop Kurtz re. the U.S. Bishops' Response to the Supreme Court's Marriage Equality Ruling
• Clyde Hall: “All Gay People, in One Form or Another, Have Something to Give to This World, Something Rich and Very Wonderful”
• The (Same-Love) Dance Goes On
The Wild Reed's 2014 Queer Appreciation series:
• Michael Bayly’s “The Kiss” Wins the People's Choice Award at This Year's Twin Cities Pride Art Exhibition
• Same-Sex Desires: “Immanent and Essential Traits Transcending Time and Culture”
• Lisa Leff on Five Things to Know About Transgender People
• Steven W. Thrasher on the Bland and Misleading “Gay Inc” Treatment of the Struggle to Overturn Prop 8
• Test: A Film that “Illuminates Why Queer Cinema Still Matters”
• Sister Teresa Forcades on Queer Theology
• Omar Akersim: Muslim and Gay
• Catholics Make Their Voices Heard on LGBTQ Issues
The Wild Reed's 2013 Queer Appreciation series:
• Doing Papa Proud
• Jesse Bering: “It’s Time to Throw 'Sexual Preference' into the Vernacular Trash”
• Dan Savage on How Leather Guys, Dykes on Bikes, Go-Go Boys, and Drag Queens Have Helped the LGBT Movement
• On Brokeback Mountain: Remembering Queer Lives and Loves Never Fully Realized
• Manly Love
The Wild Reed's 2012 Queer Appreciation series:
• The Theology of Gay Pride
• Bi God, Somebody Listen
• North America: Perhaps Once the “Queerest Continent on the Planet”
• Gay Men and Modern Dance
• A Spirit of Defiance
The Wild Reed's 2011 Gay Pride/Queer Appreciation series:
• Gay Pride: A Celebration of True Humility
• Dusty Springfield: Queer Icon
• Gay Pioneer Malcolm Boyd on Survival – and Victory – with Grace
• Senator Scott Dibble’s Message of Hope and Optimism
• Parvez Sharma on Islam and Homosexuality
The Wild Reed’s 2010 Gay Pride series:
• Standing Strong
• Growing Strong
• Jesus and Homosexuality
• It Is Not Good To Be Alone
• The Bisexual: “Living Consciously in the Place Where the Twain Meet”
• Spirituality and the Gay Experience
• Recovering the Queer Artistic Heritage
The Wild Reed's 2009 Gay Pride series:
• A Mother’s Request to President Obama: Full Equality for My Gay Son
• Marriage Equality in Massachusetts: Five Years On
• It Shouldn’t Matter. Except It Does
• Gay Pride as a Christian Event
• Not Just Another Political Special Interest Group
• Can You Hear Me, Yet, My Friend?
See also:
• Worldwide Gay Pride – 2017 | 2016 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007
• A Catholic Presence at Gay Pride – 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007
• Gay Pride: A Catholic Perspective
• Reclaiming and Re-Queering Pride
• Police, Pride, and Philando Castile
Image: Photographer unknown.
Zaylore is an active advocate for LGBT issues, primarily through his law firm, Zaylore Stout & Associates, which specializes in representing HIV+ and transgender employees discriminated against at work. Zaylore is also the author of Our Gay History in Fifty States, and, like me, he is a resident of Minneapolis.
“Happy Pride!” is a phrase I would have uttered thousands of times starting June 1, the first day of Pride month. I had some damn high hopes for Pride in the year 2020. I published my first book, Our Gay History in Fifty States, and planned an amazing whirlwind book tour, advocating for the inclusion of a more diverse rendition of our community’s history. I envisioned myself demanding more states join the ranks of California, Colorado, New Jersey, Illinois, and Oregon in requiring the teaching of LGBTQ+ history in schools. I had a goal to get 1,725 of books donated to LGBTQ+ youth-focused learning centers across the country, especially in conservative states and counties, so that kids there know that they are seen, valued and part of a rich community that has contributed so much to this country.
However, my plans were hit with a one-two punch: First Covid-19, and then the murder of George Floyd.
I am a Black man in Minneapolis and my world stopped on Memorial Day. The Black community is crippled with grief and anger, but not disbelief. We’ve seen this story before: We watched Ahmaud Arbery murdered by vigilantes. We followed the trial of Trayvon Martin’s murderer as the state let him walk free. Our eyes were glued to the video of Eric Garner in New York gasping for his last breath crying out, “I can’t breathe.”
George Floyd said, “I can’t breathe” too. And yet, we are here, still unable to breathe. The Black community, my community, is being snuffed out and nobody cares.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the first Pride march, which began as a commemoration of the events of June 28, 1969, when, empowered by the Black Power, women’s liberation, and anti-war movements, the patrons of the Stonewall Inn said “enough is enough!” Black, brown, transgender, and gender non-binary people spearheaded the resistance. A revolutionary riot lasted six days. There were both peaceful protestors and defiant rioters. There was unrest. There was violence. There was property damage. And people went to jail.
Today, the country celebrates their contributions, even though none of them were celebrated at the time. Stonewall, like every riot in our country’s history was sparked by a push back against police violence and brutality.
Today, as I stand in Minneapolis, I ask, where is the groundswell of LGBTQ+ community warriors now when my Black community is under attack? Peaceful Black Lives Matter protests occurred at Pride parades across the country have been met with boos, jeers, and social media rants. This is what happens when we fail to tell the history of our movement, including who was involved from the very beginning. This is what occurs when we fail to ensure that Black, Brown, and Indigenous voices are part of our leadership structure and have an equal voice. Without diverse voices and leadership, people believe the false narrative that white gays and lesbians secured gains on their own without the rest of us.
To read Zaylore Stout's commentary in its entirety, click here.
on Title VII: “A Reason for All Catholics to Celebrate”
Related Off-site Links:
Meet Zaylore Stout – E.B. Boatner (Lavender, June 7, 2018).
LGBTQ Communities Are Elevating Black Voices During Pride 2020 in Solidarity – Francesca Giuliani-Hoffman (CNN, June 9, 2020).
No, We Should Not Condemn Uprisings Against Police Murders Like George Floyd’s – Peter Gowan (Jacobin, May 28, 2020).
Prolonged Uprising Is the New Normal – Jade Begay (Common Dreams, June 20, 2020).
In Defense of Destroying Property – R.H. Lossin (The Nation, June 10, 2020)
See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• “I Can’t Breathe”: The Murder of George Floyd
• He Called Mama. He Has Called Up Great Power
• Honoring George Floyd
• Emma Jordan-Simpson: “There Will Be No Peace Without Justice”
• Rallying in Solidarity with Eric Garner and Other Victims of Police Brutality
• In Minneapolis, Rallying in Solidarity with Black Lives in Baltimore
• “Say Her Name” Solidarity Action
• “We Are All One” – #Justice4Jamar and the 4th Precinct Occupation
• Nancy A. Heitzeg: Quote of the Day – March 31, 2016
• “This Doesn't Happen to White People”
• Remembering Philando Castile and Demanding Abolition of the System That Targets and Kills People of Color
The Wild Reed's 2019 Queer Appreciation series:
• Quote of the Day – May 31, 2019
• James Baldwin’s Potent Interweavings of Race, Homoeroticism, and the Spiritual
• John Gehring on Why Catholics Should Participate in LGBTQ Pride Parades
• A Dance of Queer Love
• The Queer Liberation March: Bringing Back the Spirit of Stonewall
• Barbara Smith on Why She Left the Mainstream LGBTQI Movement
• Remembering the Stonewall Uprising on Its 50th Anniversary
• In a Historic First, Country Music’s Latest Star Is a Queer Black Man
• Historian Martin Duberman on the Rightward Shift of the Gay Movement
• Queer Black Panther
The Wild Reed's 2018 Queer Appreciation series:
• Michelangelo Signorile on the Rebellious Purpose of Queer Pride
• Liberating Paris: Exploring the Meaning of Liberation in Paris Is Burning
• Stephanie Beatriz on the Truth of Being Bi
• Queer Native Americans, Colonialism, and the Fourth of July
The Wild Reed's 2017 Queer Appreciation series:
• Our Lives as LGBTQI People: “Garments Grown in Love”
• On the First Anniversary of the Pulse Gay Nightclub Massacre, Orlando Martyrs Commemorated in Artist Tony O'Connell’s “Triptych for the 49”
• Tony Enos on Understanding the Two Spirit Community
• Making the Connections
The Wild Reed's 2016 Queer Appreciation post of solace, inspiration and hope:
• “I Will Dance”
The Wild Reed's 2015 Queer Appreciation series:
• Vittorio Lingiardi on the Limits of the Hetero/Homo Dichotomy
• Reclaiming and Re-Queering Pride
• Standing with Jennicet Gutiérrez, “the Mother of Our Newest Stonewall Movement”
• Questions for Archbishop Kurtz re. the U.S. Bishops' Response to the Supreme Court's Marriage Equality Ruling
• Clyde Hall: “All Gay People, in One Form or Another, Have Something to Give to This World, Something Rich and Very Wonderful”
• The (Same-Love) Dance Goes On
The Wild Reed's 2014 Queer Appreciation series:
• Michael Bayly’s “The Kiss” Wins the People's Choice Award at This Year's Twin Cities Pride Art Exhibition
• Same-Sex Desires: “Immanent and Essential Traits Transcending Time and Culture”
• Lisa Leff on Five Things to Know About Transgender People
• Steven W. Thrasher on the Bland and Misleading “Gay Inc” Treatment of the Struggle to Overturn Prop 8
• Test: A Film that “Illuminates Why Queer Cinema Still Matters”
• Sister Teresa Forcades on Queer Theology
• Omar Akersim: Muslim and Gay
• Catholics Make Their Voices Heard on LGBTQ Issues
The Wild Reed's 2013 Queer Appreciation series:
• Doing Papa Proud
• Jesse Bering: “It’s Time to Throw 'Sexual Preference' into the Vernacular Trash”
• Dan Savage on How Leather Guys, Dykes on Bikes, Go-Go Boys, and Drag Queens Have Helped the LGBT Movement
• On Brokeback Mountain: Remembering Queer Lives and Loves Never Fully Realized
• Manly Love
The Wild Reed's 2012 Queer Appreciation series:
• The Theology of Gay Pride
• Bi God, Somebody Listen
• North America: Perhaps Once the “Queerest Continent on the Planet”
• Gay Men and Modern Dance
• A Spirit of Defiance
The Wild Reed's 2011 Gay Pride/Queer Appreciation series:
• Gay Pride: A Celebration of True Humility
• Dusty Springfield: Queer Icon
• Gay Pioneer Malcolm Boyd on Survival – and Victory – with Grace
• Senator Scott Dibble’s Message of Hope and Optimism
• Parvez Sharma on Islam and Homosexuality
The Wild Reed’s 2010 Gay Pride series:
• Standing Strong
• Growing Strong
• Jesus and Homosexuality
• It Is Not Good To Be Alone
• The Bisexual: “Living Consciously in the Place Where the Twain Meet”
• Spirituality and the Gay Experience
• Recovering the Queer Artistic Heritage
The Wild Reed's 2009 Gay Pride series:
• A Mother’s Request to President Obama: Full Equality for My Gay Son
• Marriage Equality in Massachusetts: Five Years On
• It Shouldn’t Matter. Except It Does
• Gay Pride as a Christian Event
• Not Just Another Political Special Interest Group
• Can You Hear Me, Yet, My Friend?
See also:
• Worldwide Gay Pride – 2017 | 2016 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007
• A Catholic Presence at Gay Pride – 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007
• Gay Pride: A Catholic Perspective
• Reclaiming and Re-Queering Pride
• Police, Pride, and Philando Castile
Image: Photographer unknown.
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