Black LGBTQ+ community seeks inclusion in fight for equal rights
LGBTQ+ community takes a look in the mirror to recognize unique challenges faced by its people of color
Los Angeles, CA (KABC) -- As honest conversations about race and injustice take place around the country, members of the Black LGBTQ+ community asks for recognition of their unique challenges within the broader LGBTQ+ community and society, at large.
"We are living in a unique time," said Phill Wilson, Founder of the Black AIDS Institute. "You would think that we've been involved in this experiment called the United States for long enough and that we would've figured out who we are by now. But it seems that that's not the case."
"I don't experience racism, sexism or transphobia separately," said civil rights activist Ashlee Marie Preston. "I experience each of those dynamics simultaneously."
"Much like James Baldwin says 'to be Black in America is to be in constant rage.' I don't want to live in constant rage," said Sir Lex Kennedy, a content creator and activist who has been involved in the All Black Lives Matter movement. "I don't want to allow folks projections on me to cause me to not be my whole self."
"I'm Black, I'm part of the LGBTQ and I'm also a woman. It's very important, in all these communities that I belong to, that I am represented," said Jasmyne Cannick, Co-founder of National Black Justice Coalition.
"We saw that here in Los Angeles, at the All Black Lives Matter protest, thousands upon thousand of people came out in solidarity to say 'yes, you matter,'" said Kennedy. "Now the next step is actually putting that into practice."
