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Recent events made me decide to focus my planned series of #PrideMonth 
on queer people of color. Day #1. Marsha P. Johnson. Activist. Drag Queen. Stonewall Rioter. She said the “P” stood for “pay it no mind.” A phrase she used when questioned about gender.
on queer people of color. Day #1. Marsha P. Johnson. Activist. Drag Queen. Stonewall Rioter. She said the “P” stood for “pay it no mind.” A phrase she used when questioned about gender.
Today you get two #PrideMonth drawings because I pushed pause yesterday. Day #2 Bayard Rustin. A leader in the American Civil Rights movement. Gay activist. Organized Freedom Rides. Given the Presidential Medal of Freedom posthumously by President Obama.
drawings because I pushed pause yesterday. Day #2 Bayard Rustin. A leader in the American Civil Rights movement. Gay activist. Organized Freedom Rides. Given the Presidential Medal of Freedom posthumously by President Obama.
Day #3 Stormé DeLarverie. Toured the black theater circuit as MC and Drag King. Bouncer at lesbian bars. Volunteer street patrol - the "guardian of lesbians in the Village." She organized and performed fundraisers for women and children suffering domestic violence. #PrideMonth
Day 4 - Alvin Ailey. World renowned dancer, choreographer, director and activist. He founded the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and Ailey School in 1958. His 1960 ballet Revelations is still performed around the world. December 4 is Alvin Ailey Day in NYC. #pridemonth
Day 5 - Andrea Jenkins. The first openly transgender woman elected to public office (in 2017). She's a policy aide, writer, performance artist, poet and activist. Vice President of the Minneapolis City Council for Ward 8. You can read her words here: https://www.glamour.com/story/andrea-jenkins-george-floyd-minneapolis-essay
Day 6 - Ernestine Eckstein. Influential is steering the US Lesbian and Gay Rights movement of the 60s toward public demonstration. The only person of color to march in front of the White House in 1965. Her sign read "Denial of Equality of Opportunity is Immoral." #PrideMonth
Day 7 - Willi Ninja. A dancer and choreographer featured in the (incredible, out on Criterion) documentary Paris is Burning. He's considered the godfather of voguing, and was a fixture of Harlem's ball culture. #PrideMonth
Okay, despite my Twitter break, I'm going to keep posting these. Because they aren't about me. But I don't have Twitter on my phone at the moment. So it'll just be a post-and-run.
Day 8: Audre Lorde. She described herself as "black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet.” She was an activist, librarian, and feminist. You can read her poem "Power" here. It was written in 1978, but it could have been written this year. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/53918/power-56d233adafeb3
Day 9: Gladys Bentley. She was an openly lesbian blues singer, pianist, and entertainer. During the 1930s she performed at Harlem's Ubangi Club, she wore men's clothes, backed by a chorus of drag queens, and sang raunchy lyrics to popular songs of the day.
Day 10: Lil Nas X - rapper, singer, and songwriter. His hit “Old Town Road” was the longest running number 1 song since the debut of the Hot 100 in 1958. #pridemonth
Day 11: Tracy Chapman. Multi-platinum singer-songwriter. Winner of four Grammy awards. A personal favorite of mine. Her New Beginning album was a revelation in my teens. I still listen to it (and many of her other albums) all the time. #pridemonth
Day 12 - Samuel R. Delaney. Author and literary critic. A lead figure in the New Wave sci-fi movement. Four-time Nebula award winner, two-time Hugo Award winner. #PrideMonth
Day 13: Mags, Day 14: SageS, Day 15: Naika Champaigne. Collectively, they're Strange Froots, a queer black alternative chill-soul/hip-hop trio. The group has been active since 2014, when an intended series of music workshops evolved into a full-fledged band. #PrideMonth
Day 16: James Baldwin. Novelist, playwright, essayist, poet and activist. He interwove class, race, sexuality, and gender in his writing. Some of his many works of note include Notes of a Native Son, Go Tell it on the Mountain, and If Beale Street Could Talk. #PrideMonth
