Posts Tagged: Pride
Having Pride in Wichita
On September 29th, URGE Kansas members had the opportunity to be part of Wichita Pride and march in the parade. For me, it was my first time at Pride in Wichita, and for many of our members, it was their very first Pride! It was also the first time that URGE has had an official presence in the parade here. Overall, we had so much fun together, and we even had a few people shout out in support of our #AbortionPositive banner. For me, it was so transformative to see this side of Wichita. For too long, the local queer community had felt like it was only the small group I’d come to know through my time at college. And while there were many familiar faces, there were so many… Read more »
Bisexuality and Queer Policing
This Saturday kicked off my town’s week long pride festival. It was a small outdoor concert and variety show at our town’s Native American center. It was full of great organizational tables, good local food, and good music. The MC was a black trans woman who was fabulous; the whole event was pretty fabulous. Overall, it was a super inclusive community event that even included a couple of drag kings. There was one point with a call and answer part where they would call out an orientation or gender and that respective group would cheer back. It was a great way to pep up the crowd, and it worked. Unfortunately one group was left out. No, not straight allies. They were recognized, too. Bisexual men and women didn’t even get… Read more »
My First Pride Parade
About two weeks ago I attended my first Pride festival in my state’s capital of Austin, Texas. Even though National LGBT Pride Month was declared every June to honor the 1969 Stonewall Riots, Austin likes to be weird and have their celebration in September. I’ve been out for a number of years so it was a surprise to may of my friends that this was the first Pride celebration I’d ever been to. It didn’t feel odd to me however because I’ve never been so vocal about my sexuality to where I felt pride was necessary. I know that sentence may come off as strange because Pride is all about celebrating diversity and acceptance and togetherness but for a long time the thought of publicly waving a rainbow flag around… Read more »
How Being Queer Impacts my Reproductive Justice Work
People have always told me that I’m a bit weird, silly, or odd. When I was young and before I was out (even to myself), I remember feeling isolated and disconnected from other people. At the time, I couldn’t figure out how or why I was so different. Now, as an out, queer woman, I wear these words as a badge, because, I AM odd. And I know that this self acceptance has a lot to do with me being queer, and vice versa — I’m queird! (thank you Hartbeat for introducing me to that word). To me, being queer is so much more than a sexual identity. I personally identify most with the term queer because it best represents who I am attracted to–men, women, femmes, dykes, genderqueer folks,… Read more »
We Make the Road By Walking: Trans-inclusive Language and Reproductive Justice
When I think about the ways that queer & trans issues intersect with reproductive justice, I don’t even know where to start. To me, one seems an intricate part of the other; the entire time I’ve been doing reproductive justice work, sexual orientation and gender identity issues have been central components. How can we possibly be liberated as LGBTQ folks without reproductive justice? And how can we meaningfully say as a reproductive justice movement that we center the voices of the most marginalized members of our communities if we aren’t taking sexual orientation and gender identity into account? The beauty of the reproductive justice framework is that it makes room for this kind of intersectional advocacy, and now more than ever I’ve seen LGBTQ issues become a part of the… Read more »
