How is the LGBTQ community responding to anti-Black violence?  How is the Black community responding to anti-trans brutality? The recent police killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and, just last Friday night, Rayshard Brooks, have brought outrage across the US and abroad.  Shortly after Floyd’s killing, Tony McDade, a Black transgender man was killed by police in Tallahassee, Florida. His killing, like so many trans killings before, has not received similar attention by the media nor by demonstrators.

Because the Floyd protests peaked as Pride Month began, many are reminded that annual Pride parades started 50 years ago to commemorate New York’s Stonewall Riots in June, 1969. That uprising, led mostly by Black and Brown transgender women, is credited with sparking the LGBTQ liberation movement nationally.  

The recent killings have led us to confront racism and anti-Blackness within the queer community. And, while Black Americans face significant prejudice, Black queer and trans people experience homophobia, transphobia and misogyny on top of racism.

In this, our first Out in the Bay relaunch episode, host Eric Jansen and guests address how these killings have affected the LGBTQ community. How can we provide meaningful support to Black people? And what hopeful effects are protests around the country having? 

Guests:
Earl Fowlkes Jr., president and CEO of the Center For Black Equity
Tuquan Harrison, LGBTQI+ policy and program officer at the San Francisco Human Rights Commission
Janelle Luster, program associate at The Transgender District