Monday, June 13, 2016

Prayers for Orlando

Prayer for Orlando, text copyright ©2016 kpn / kathryn price nicdhana for CAORANN and Gaol Naofa
Our prayers are with everyone in Orlando, and everyone who's been affected by this horrifice, homophobic hate crime, that has hit the Latin@ and other POC communities particularly hard (for anyone who didn't know, not only did the shooter target a gay club during Pride month, but it was Latino night and a drag show).

For those of us who lived through earlier eras, this is bringing back hard memories of when we, too, were shot at or jumped just for going to a gay club, when we held vigils for people murdered by gaybashers, where people we had been with on the barricades turned up dead after being hassled at Pride. Those days are not that long gone, and this is a flashback to when our marches were not "Pride," but "Liberation."

This meme includes one of the Winged Victories from a monument in Dublin. She carries a shield of protection, and she has taken away the enemy's sword and broken it. The background is a photo by Diana Davies of the very first Gay Pride rally in New York City, aka Christopher Street Liberation Day, aka The Gay Liberation Run, held on the first anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising.

In ACT UP, all these streams of activists merged, fighting for our lives. Stonewall vets hand in hand with baby dykes, fighting the cops, together. Today we sing for those we lost, who are among the ancestors now. See us here, among the living, beloved dead. Remember us, as we remember you. In truth, in honour, in love, in justice, in eventual hard-won peace.

Be safe out there, folks. Be kind to one another.

Winged Victory courtesy Wikimedia. See more of Diana Davies photos of the Gay Liberation Front, portraits of GLF members and other, related, activists and activist groups.