Happy Pride!! This episode is our first in a mini-series that will celebrate pride by diving deep into many different facets of queerness. This first one will review some important moments and figures throughout queer history, featuring several speech excerpts from queer movement legends. The first speech will be Sylvia Rivera's "Y'all Better Quiet Down" from the Christopher Street Gay Rally in New York in 1973, in which she touches on her own experiences as a trans sex worker of color and pleads with the unaccepting queer community to stop ignoring and disrespecting their trans siblings, especially those that are in jail. The second speech will be Audre Lorde's "There is No Hierarchy of Oppressions," which is a part of a publication from 1983. Here Lorde also personally divulges her own identities and calls for a unified movement culture that truly makes space for intersectionality. And lastly we'll hop to a queer elder speaking in our current moment, with an excerpt from Miss Major's interview for the Trans Oral History Project in 2016. She highlights the unchanged positionality of trans folks within the queer community as ignored and disrespected, just as Rivera did in her speech from over 40 years prior. Our ancestors lay out their message clearly: we need to center and prioritize the most marginalized among us, rather than allowing our movement to only benefit the most privileged. We need to radicalize our movement, to make it intersectional and inclusive. We need to dismantle the state systems that oppress us, but we need to confront the oppression perpetuated by ourselves and our communities too. And if we don't, 40 years from now will look pretty damn similar to where we are now. Join me in learning from our queer history and honoring our elders by incorporating their words into our everyday lives. Create spaces of radical joy and acceptance, support mutual aid, join movements beyond those that you find linked to your own identities, and care for each other boldly and without exclusion.
Resources:
Sylvia Rivera's "Y'all Better Quiet Down" Speech
Transcript of Sylvia Rivera's "Y'all Better Quiet Down" Speech (on pg. 2)
Audre Lorde's "There is No Hierarchy of Oppressions"
Transcript of Audre Lorde's "There is No Hierarchy of Oppressions"
Other Audre Lorde works: Sister Outsider (1984), Uses of the Erotic (1978), the Cancer Journals (1980), and more!
Miss Major on Stonewall from the Trans Oral History Project
Transcript of the entire Miss Major Interview with Trans Oral History Project (with more than just the excerpt included in the episode)
More speech transcripts from Rivera, Marsha P. Johnson and STAR (I really recommend these!)
Trans Oral History Project Website
Making Gay History, a podcast with Eric Marcus
Documentary on Mama Gloria, another trans icon and activist
Video featuring Alok Menon, a current trans artist and activist
Happy Pride!! This episode is our first in a mini-series that will celebrate pride by diving deep into many different facets of queerness. This first one will review some important moments and figures throughout queer history, featuring several speech excerpts from queer movement legends. The first speech will be Sylvia Rivera's "Y'all Better Quiet Down" from the Christopher Street Gay Rally in New York in 1973, in which she touches on her own experiences as a trans sex worker of color and pleads with the unaccepting queer community to stop ignoring and disrespecting their trans siblings, especially those that are in jail. The second speech will be Audre Lorde's "There is No Hierarchy of Oppressions," which is a part of a publication from 1983. Here Lorde also personally divulges her own identities and calls for a unified movement culture that truly makes space for intersectionality. And lastly we'll hop to a queer elder speaking in our current moment, with an excerpt from Miss Major's interview for the Trans Oral History Project in 2016. She highlights the unchanged positionality of trans folks within the queer community as ignored and disrespected, just as Rivera did in her speech from over 40 years prior. Our ancestors lay out their message clearly: we need to center and prioritize the most marginalized among us, rather than allowing our movement to only benefit the most privileged. We need to radicalize our movement, to make it intersectional and inclusive. We need to dismantle the state systems that oppress us, but we need to confront the oppression perpetuated by ourselves and our communities too. And if we don't, 40 years from now will look pretty damn similar to where we are now. Join me in learning from our queer history and honoring our elders by incorporating their words into our everyday lives. Create spaces of radical joy and acceptance, support mutual aid, join movements beyond those that you find linked to your own identities, and care for each other boldly and without exclusion.
Resources:
Sylvia Rivera's "Y'all Better Quiet Down" Speech
Transcript of Sylvia Rivera's "Y'all Better Quiet Down" Speech (on pg. 2)
Audre Lorde's "There is No Hierarchy of Oppressions"
Transcript of Audre Lorde's "There is No Hierarchy of Oppressions"
Other Audre Lorde works: Sister Outsider (1984), Uses of the Erotic (1978), the Cancer Journals (1980), and more!
Miss Major on Stonewall from the Trans Oral History Project
Transcript of the entire Miss Major Interview with Trans Oral History Project (with more than just the excerpt included in the episode)
More speech transcripts from Rivera, Marsha P. Johnson and STAR (I really recommend these!)
Trans Oral History Project Website
Making Gay History, a podcast with Eric Marcus
Documentary on Mama Gloria, another trans icon and activist
Video featuring Alok Menon, a current trans artist and activist