Image: Marsha P. Johnson handing out flyers at NYU

Pride is a Black-Led Protest

This June, we’re looking back on the legacy of Pride. It began in the late 1960s, when LGBTQ2SIA+ community started pushing back against police-led oppression.

The uprising at Compton’s Cafeteria in San Francisco kicked off when a trans woman resisted arrest by throwing coffee on a cop, as recounted in the documentary Screaming Queens. Three years later, The Stonewall Riots continued the fight thanks to leaders like Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera.

Ever since, the Pride movement has continued as protests, demonstrations, and community-led events that center the human rights of all trans, queer, bisexual, gay, lesbian, intersex, two-spirit, asexual, and gender-variant people worldwide.

All Black Lives Matter: This includes queer Black people, trans Black people, disabled Black people, Black sex workers, and particularly Black people who live at the intersection of these and other marginalized identities.

The Effing Foundation for Sex-Positivity supports efforts to demilitarize, defund, and dismantle the US police system. We offer full solidarity with the Black community and recognize that dismantling systemic and institutional racism is necessary to affirm the fundamental human rights of Black people.

The United States is a country that was founded on violence against Black people and the exploitation of their labor. From the start of colonization through the present day, violence has continued to be used against Black people as a means of control and oppression through many institutions, including the law enforcement system, healthcare system, education system, and nonprofit industry.

At this time, we ask our non-Black supporters and allies to educate themselves about the history of racism in America and the ongoing Black struggle for human rights; and to offer direct financial support whenever possible.

Please consider offering direct support to the following Black LGBTQ2SIA+ people and projects, which have been previously funded by us. Donate at any time through Network for Good; put the name of the project you’re giving to under “designation.”

ART

• J Mase III (he/him; Seattle, WA) and Lady Dane Figueroa Edidi (she/her; Washington, DC), co-editors of The Black Trans Prayer Book – The #BlackTransPrayerBook is an interfaith, multi-dimensional, artistic and theological work that collects the stories, poems, prayers, meditations, and incantations of Black TGNC contributors. 
• Lola Rose Eros (he/they; LA) of eros&persephone (NSFW) – an exploration of the human psyche through the lens of sexuality as a series of short videos by a Black transmasculinefemme self-taught artist; the stories include concepts such as safer sex practices, enthusiastic consent, kink, and fetish. Back his work on Patreon.
• Saira Barbaric (he/they/she/xie), co-founder with Alistair Fyrn (he/him and they/them) of Scumtrust Productions (Seattle, WA) – Scumtrust Productions is a collective working to shift the gaze of porn away from hetero-patriarchal norms. By building worlds that focus on the pleasure and beauty of marginalized identities and bodies, Scumtrust aims to affect the paradigm of desirability in adult entertainment.
• Sean Saifa Wall (he/him; Atlanta, GA) – This collaboration between disabled artist Riva Lehrer and Black activist and researcher Sean Saifa Wall takes the form of a nude portrait. This painting of Sean Saifa Wall pushes the edge of our understanding of intersex bodies, while returning the gaze to a Black intersex body, as the only representation of a Black intersex person to date was by Dr. Jonathan Neill at the University of Pennsylvania in 1831.

EDUCATION

• Candace Liger (she/they; Greensboro, NC), founder of Project Blackbird’s #ConsentConscious – In order to combat sexual violence, we must look at sexual violence holistically, including the dynamics of power, pathways of pleasure, and what is healthy consent.
• Grace B. Freedom (she/they; San Jose) of My Black (GR)ACE, by – Bringing visibility to the Black gray/demisexual (ace) experience through the creation of written works that describe personal experiences in centering Black joy, Black pleasure and Black rest. 
• HonestlyNae (Aurora, CO) – HonestlyNae is your personal sexuality educator here to provide normalization, explanation, and melanated representation. Back her work on Patreon.
• Hunter Ashleigh, founder of Free Figure Revolution (Atlanta, GA) – The "Queer Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Survey" addresses the lack of representation, nuance, and information on the depths of domestic violence and sexual assault within the gender, sexuality, and race spectrum. 
• Jimanekia Eborn (she/her; Los Angeles, CA), founder and host of Trauma Queen – a podcast mini-series focused on normalizing the conversation around sexual assault. Answering the ultimate question: How can we collectively continue to heal? Donate to her directly on PayPal.

COMMUNITY CARE

• Sylvia Rivera Center for Social Justice (Reno, NV) – The Sylvia Rivera Center for Social Justice is committed to providing advocacy, outreach, education, mental health, and other services rooted in social justice, to underserved and marginalized communities within the Greater Reno area with a specialization in LGBTQ+ communities of color. Give to their current fundraiser here.
  
  
  

Wishing health and safety to you and yours,

Dom & Kit

Dom Chatterjee, Communications Manager ([email protected])

  and Kit Stubbs, Ph.D., Founder & Executive Director ([email protected])

Like what we're doing? Make a tax-deductible donation and support us via Amazon Smile.