As the official month of Pride comes to a close, PACEs Connection has been reflecting on how to ensure that the needs of the LGBTQ community are addressed year round, particularly in how we think about the root causes of trauma and what healing and resilience look like.
Included among a set of 14 guiding principles shared in 2016 by the Black Lives Matter Global Network (which may have since updated their principles), five of these principles powerfully address the importance of centering the needs of the LGBTQ community in liberation struggles. These five principles are quoted below.
“We are committed to acknowledging, respecting and celebrating difference(s) and commonalities.
We are guided by the fact that all Black lives, regardless of actual or perceived sexual identity, gender identity, gender expression, economic status, ability, disability, religious beliefs or disbeliefs, immigration status or location.
We are committed to embracing and making space for trans brothers and sisters to participate and lead.
We are committed to being self-reflexive and doing the work required to dismantle cis-gender privilege and uplift Black trans folk, especially Black trans women who continue to be disproportionately impacted by trans-antagonistic violence.
We are committed to fostering a queer‐affirming network. When we gather, we do so with the intention of freeing ourselves from the tight grip of heteronormative thinking or, rather, the belief that all in the world are heterosexual unless s/he or they disclose otherwise.”
These principles not only declare commitments to including LGBTQ community needs in larger organizational goals, these principles educate the public about the crises of trauma faced by LGBTQ community members. These principles urge that issues impacting the LGBTQ community be centered in any conversations about justice and healing.
Resources: For healing and for further reading
Pride 2021 on the Mental Health Technology Transfer Center Network
Pride & Progress | Celebrating 30 Years of LGBTQ US Political Power
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