OUR STATEMENT
3rd June 2020
Black Lives Matter. And yes, it's an LGBT+ issue. It's not (only) because white LGBT+ people regularly profit off of Black culture. It's not (only) because we owe Pride, and many of the rights some of us have today, to Black and Latinx queers. It's because queer lives are black lives... and white lives and brown lives and so on. Black Lives Matter cannot be separated from the LGBT+ community because black lives exist within the LGBT+ community. So we want to reaffirm that House of Pride stands with the BLM movement. But just because House of Pride is an LGBT+ organisation, it does not mean that our solidarity of the Black community is contingent on sexuality / gender identity.
To be perfectly clear, for those in the back, All Black Lives Matter. But we must be conscious of the multiple modes of oppression faced by qtpoc, and stand with the most marginalised in our community, namely Black trans women. Black Trans Lives Matter. Black Queer Lives Matter. Say their names: Iyanna Dior; Nina Pop; Monika Diamond.
House of Pride is a new organisation. We believe the way we have operated has always considered & consulted qtpoc. However, we are continually open to learning. Come and talk to us if you think we've made a mistake, or could do better. We vow not to be defensive, but to listen, and to participate in the conversation.
We are fully aware of the historic and contemporary white-washing of the LGBT+ community. Many of our followers have the privilege to switch off the television, "pause" from social media, and disengage from the issue of systemic racism around the world. If you are "tired" of reading about Police Brutality, Racism, and White Supremacy after just a few days, imagine living it. As an organisation that focuses on queer women and non-binary people, House of Pride wanted to use this statement to give thanks to the Black LGBT+ women and non-binary people who consistently do the work.
Roxane Gay. Angela Davis. Indya Moore. Lady Phyll Opuku-Gyimah. Patrisse Cullors-Brignac. Janet Mock. Tanya Compas. Chloe Davies. Azure Antoinette. Char Bailey. Laverne Cox. Angelica Ross. Janelle Monae. Blair Imani. Miss Major. Amber Hikes. Mj Rodriguez.
To our white followers: listen to these voices and more, but don't look to them to always answer your questions. Go out and find the answers yourself. Try not to add to the already prevalent issue of emotional labour placed on people of colour, especially on Black women.
Since House of Pride's inception, we have made it our goal to centre qtpoc at the heart of our events and community building. Not just a hashtag, not just during Black History Month, not just including diverse voices reactively. We don't make vacuous public statements of solidarity because it will help our image. But we know those that do - even in the LGBT+ community. We're seeing a lot of lip service from brands who have discarded people of colour when they became inconvenient to them; from companies who did not support their Black employees when issues of race were reported; from organisations that had no interest in listening to Black voices.
We want to assure our Black followers, our followers of colour, that we are not just there for the algorithm. We are not just there during the riots. We are not just there to honour Marsha, Sylvia and Stormé once a year...because their activism did not start and stop at Stonewall. And yours should not stop here either. We're here always. And moreover, we're not just here for you - we are you. Our leaders, our team, our family, our advisors, our contributors, have queer people of colour front and centre. We always will.