Quote of the Day

The so-called mainstream gay movement has a long history of investing in and accepting sponsorships from corporations that profit off the incarceration of people of color and facilitate the gentrification that displaces us from our homes – building cupcake shops and luxury condo complexes over historic queer community spaces. These corporate behemoths that sponsor Pride festivals around the country also finance and fuel U.S. military invasions of countries in the global south.

I have borne witness to how the mainstream corporate gay rights movement has glossed over its radical roots in the unapologetic militancy of Marsha P. Johnson, Stormé DeLarverie, Sylvia Rivera, and so many other trans people of color unsung and unnamed.

And as my fellow trans and queer people of color wage what is literally a battle for our lives, I have watched us be forgotten, ignored, pushed to the margins of the fight against HB 2 in North Carolina. But the truth remains: We started this movement, and we remain and will always be at its vanguard.

– Qasima Wideman
Excerpted from "Y'All White Queers
Better Quiet Down in North Carolina"
The Advocate
April 6, 2016

Related Off-site Links and Updates:
North Carolina's Discriminatory House Bill 2 Will Hurt Transgender Youth – Bob Simmons (The Charlotte Observer, April 6, 2016).
We Are the Voices of Change: Fighting Back North Carolina’s HB2 – Serena Worthington (HuffPost Queer Voices, April 6, 2016).
PayPal Abandons North Carolina Expansion Over Anti-LGBT Law – Max Brantley (The Arkansas Times, April 4, 2016).
Anti-Gay Laws Bring Backlash in Mississippi and North Carolina" – Jonathan M. Katz and Erik Eckholm (The New York Times, April 5, 2016).
Corporate Coalition is Forming to Fight Mississippi’s Anti-LGBT Law – Alexander C. Kaufman (The Huffington Post, April 5, 2016).
Bruce Springsteen Cancels North Carolina Show Over House Bill 2 – David Menconi (The News and Observer, April 8, 2016).
This Daily Show Segment Absolutely Destroys North Carolina's Insane LGBT Law – Samantha Michaels (Mother Jones, April 7, 2016).
Trans Man Destroys North Carolina’s Anti-LGBT Law in One Brilliant Tweet – Nathan Wellman (U.S. Uncut, March 24, 2016).

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Quote of the Day – May 4, 2013
• Standing with Jennicet Gutiérrez, the "Mother of Our Newest Stonewall Movement"
• A Lose/Lose Situation
• Something to Think About – June 3, 2015
• Putting a Human Face on the 'T' of 'LGBT'
• Reclaiming and Re-Queering Pride

Image: Qasima Wideman.