“It seems like everybody and their mother came out for Matthew Shepard. A white, middle-class gay boy that was effeminate. Amanda Milan [a 25-year-old Black trans woman] got killed five days before Gay Pride [2001]. We waited a month to have a vigil for her. Three hundred people showed up. What kind of a—doesn’t the community have feelings? We’re part of the gay and lesbian community! That really hurt me, to see that only three hundred people showed up. . “So, when we call people, not only to sponsor our actions, we expect to see bodies there. I mean, like I said, we’re capable of doing it on our own because that’s what we’re learning now, that we cannot depend on nobody except our own trans community to keep pushing forward. . “On that note, I hope to see yous when I send out the emails to you, and I hope you pass that on. Then I hope to see you a lot of yous there for the Amanda Milan actions and I once again wish yous all a very happy gay pride but also think about us.” – Sylvia Rivera, June 2001 . Because @lgbt_history is dedicated to the history of radical queer activism, we rarely post images of current events. Sometimes, though, radical queer history—or, rather, the results of generations of struggle led largely by those whose lives were, and are, devalued and often destroyed—manifests itself in the here-and-now. . And it happened today in Brooklyn. @brooklynliberation #ActionForBlackTransLives @forthegworls @glits_inc @mpjinstitute @btfacollective @theokraproject @antiviolence . This is what Pride looks like. This is what the liberation struggle looks like. This is what the queer community looks like. . Brooklyn made Sylvia smile today. . Photo: Brooklyn Liberation’s Action for Black Trans Lives, Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY, Jun. 14, 2020. Photo © Julie Ann Pietrangelo (@julieannpietra). #BlackTransLivesMatter
