A campaign on Facebook is urging Twin Cities Pride to adopt #blacklivesmatter as the 2015 theme for the month-long series of events memorializing the Stonewall riots that culminates in a festival and parade the last weekend in June.
With the Twin Cities Pride Board of Directors set to meet on Monday evening, the organization is soliciting ideas for the theme of 2015’s events.
In a post on Facebook on Wednesday, the organization wrote:
It’s time to select a THEME for Pride 2015! We’ve had a couple of suggestions, including “Show Your Colors”, “Welcome Home”, “Love Revolution”, and “Express Yourself”. What do you think? Like any of these? Or have your own ideas? Let us know!
By Sunday evening, the post had generated over 250 comments, the overwhelming majority of which suggested that #blacklivesmatter be the theme. Many commented on why that theme mattered to them.
“#blacklivesmatter because 1 in 8 black trans women will be murdered in her lifetime and the community can’t keep ignoring it,” wrote Riley Jay Davis.
Pamela Y. Cook wrote, “#BlackLivesMatter as a theme would be such an amazing act of solidarity! It would highlight the precarity of black queer lives in such a powerful way. Yep, my vote is for #BlackLivesMatter.”
Teodoro Estéban Crespo-Carrión wrote: “Let’s take the focus OFF of privileged, white twinks with no ass walking around in their underwear this year and focus on an intersectional issue that reflects the urgency and dedication of the Stonewall Riots. #BlackLivesMatter”
Camille Holthaus wrote:
It’s time to center the voices of black people.#blacklivesmatter Prides are not just a celebration of who we are, they are also about standing together against an often hostile world. This year, let’s talk about racial differences in the LGBT experience, celebrate black leadership in the LGBT community and start the structural changes that need to be made to create more equitable organizations. When we talk about #alllivesmatter it erases all the disparities and once again we are talking about the white, gay, male, agenda that has left so many behind.
According to Twin Cities Pride, the organization is still undergoing the process of selecting a theme.
In an email, TC Pride Executive Director Dot Beltsler told The Column, “We have heard the feedback on our social media channels and are happy to see so many people engaged in the conversation. In our current strategic plan, the board’s objectives include focusing our conversations on QPOC, Trans*, and LGBTQ youth issues. We are continuing through our creative process to select an inclusive theme for 2015.”
Past Twin Cities Pride themes have ranged from the overtly political to the mundane. Here’s a sampling of previous themes:
2014 Free to Be
2013 I have Pride
2011 United in Pride
2009 Our Rights, Your Rights, Human Rights
2008 Free your mind
2007 The Evolution of Equality
2006 100% Pride. 0% Prejudice
2005 Liberation in Progress
2004 Dreaming Out Loud
2003 Start Seeing Rainbows
2001 A Pride Odyssey
2000 Marching into the Millenium
1999 Got Pride?
1990 Look to the Future
1987 Proud. Strong. United
1981 Love in Action
Photo: Flickr user Essygie