The Humanities Truck parked near DC Pride Festival to celebrate Pride on June 9, 2024. Considering the increasing levels of violence against queer and particularly trans people and continuous, recording-setting efforts to ban our public existence (legislatively and extralegally), it was important to emphasize not just personal or community pride, but collective advocacy and activism by and for LGBTQ+ folks for Pride 2024. On the side of the Truck was an exhibit I created about the life and activism of Ms. Earline Budd, who has spent decades working with and advocating for LGBTQ+ and trans women, currently and formerly incarcerated people, drug users, sex workers, and those most at risk or suffering from HIV/AIDS. She has also been fearlessly herself since she came out as trans as a teenager.
This exhibit was meant to prompt passersby to think about how and when they feel most like themselves, how the LGBTQ+ community has helped them become who they are, and how they help the LGBTQ+ community in turn. We got some amazing contributions from community members that I think are worth exploring in more depth here, so here are some that stood out to me!
These two folks came by the Truck together and decided to share a prompt card stating “I want to help my queer community…”. Their responses encapsulate the importance of both community and individual love for LGBTQ+ people. The person on the left’s response includes “Find each other!! There’s strength in numbers!” points to the importance of finding community among queer people. Social isolation uniquely impacts LGBTQ+ and can result in higher rates of bullying, substance use, violence, and suicide. When queer people are more connected to others, they not only tend to be happier individually, but also develop stronger self-advocacy skills and have higher rates of civic participation. In a very real way, then, LGBTQ+ finding community with each other helps them protect and love themselves and each other.
On the right, their response included “find comfort in themselves” and that “we all deserve to enjoy this lifetime.” Their response points to something that I think is important to come back to as we continue to fight specific battles to protect LGBTQ+ people. Ultimately, I believe that, regardless of the specific political goals or internal disagreements, the ultimate target of LGBTQ+ efforts has been, is, and always should be two-fold: to help all queer people feel comfortable exactly as they are, and to make sure we all have a good life full of joy! Thank you to these two wonderful people for sharing their time and thoughts with us!
This couple’s response to “I hope my gay future holds…” also immediately made me think of the larger goals of the LGBTQ+ movement: “Total Acceptance without Question”. Each year since at least 2020 has set a record for anti-LGBTQ+ legislation being introduced, passed, and signed into law across the United States. Once again, 2024 has already set a new record, with bills targeting education, healthcare, and public existence and performance.
Many of these bills target youth, limiting or banning their access to gender affirming care, not allowing them to choose their name or pronouns on school without parent permission, cutting off their access to books and education that shares LGBTQ+ identity information and experiences, and preventing trans students from playing sports. LGBTQ+ adults are concerned about sharing their identities in the workplace due to the very real fear that it will impact their livelihoods and careers, and get them labeled as a “groomer” for being themselves.
On a basic level, these bills and their underpinning rhetoric is meant to question LGBTQ+ identity and force us out of public space. Facing this effort on so many different fronts, we can’t forget the fundamental goal this couple shared with us: Total Acceptance without Question.
These two people were in a group together, and both wrote about being out and proud as teachers. Kids see teachers for hours a day, 5 days a week, for most of the year. Teachers are fundamental to the healthy development of all youths, LGBTQ+ or otherwise, and if they feel safe being openly themselves then they show students they can be themselves too. Schools are becoming one of the largest LGBTQ+ rights battlegrounds, targeting both students and teachers with laws limiting where they can go, what they can choose to go by, and what they can talk about. With LGBTQ+ history and visibility for both teachers and students under fire, it’s more important than ever for teachers to feel safe to proudly be themselves, for their own sake and their students.
This person’s response is the last that I’d like to highlight, partially because it’s perfectly short and sweet. He came up to the Truck and talked to several of us before his portrait was taken and while it was printing. Turns out, what drew him towards the Truck was that he heard Ms. Budd’s voice playing through the speakers. He told us he’s known her for decades, and what an amazing woman she is. He emphasized not her work—or at least, not just her work—but that she was always fun and funny, a kind woman who was simply always good company. Their response to “I hope my gay future holds…” was just “Life.” This, I think, is fundamental to the goals of the LGBTQ+ community. Whatever political issues are front and center at a given time, fundamentally, the queer community is aiming for the ability for all people, regardless of their sexualities and/or genders, to be able to live their lives. To live a life full of joy, love, safety, and security, and also the sadness, pain, and heartbreak that comes with life. LGBTQ+ people deserve legal protections and safety from interpersonal, state, and police violence, but that is not all. We aren’t just hoping for begrudging acceptance in public or performative language and acts of acknowledgement. That is not a what true equality looks like. If the past near-decade since Obergefell v Hodges legalized gay marriage has proven anything, it’s that basic legal protections for LGBTQ+ people have not been secured, and are not enough. We continue to be ourselves, fight for each other, and live our lives out and proud to secure the most basic right: to life. Despite efforts to take that away from us, we will continue to love, and speak up, and support, and fight for each other to live a life full of joy, love, kindness, and true acceptance.
Before I finish up, I first and foremost want to thank everyone who came by and looked at the exhibit, listened to the stories Earline Budd has told, and contributed a portrait and written response. The responses shown above are only a small selection of what people were so generous to share with us, and I’d really love for you to take a look at the other responses we received from attendees when the web exhibit is completed in the next week or so. These were so hard to select, and I am so grateful for every single person who engaged so thoughtfully with the interactive. It really wouldn’t have meant anything in the end without everyone’s contributions.
Second, I would like to share how grateful I am for the chance to co-create the 2023 Pride exhibit and interactive with then-project lead and fellow graduate fellow Morgan, and the 2024 exhibit myself. They have both been stressful and anxiety-inducing, but also so amazing, and I would like to thank everyone on the Humanities Truck staff and who contributed at both events for making those exhibits successful!
Lastly, I would like to once again say that Pride is still so important to LGBTQ+ communities around the country, and we must work together to not just celebrate each other, but fight for and protect each other. Trans, gay, and queer people are being targeted all around the country, and we have to come together to protect ourselves and each other, just like in the 1950s with the Mattachine Society and Daughters of Bilitis; the 1960s and 1970s with the Gay Liberation Front, Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR), and the Lesbian Avengers; and the 1980s and 1990s with ICAN, ACT UP, and the Sapphire Sapphos. To that end, the web exhibit from Pride 2024 has a Resources section listing places that you can donate to if you have the means, organizations you can volunteer with, and activist networks that you can engage with to help queer people however you may want.
Even if nothing from that list draws you in, I hope you find ways to love yourself and your community, whatever that looks like or you. In such turbulent times for everyone, I hope you find love, joy, and life that makes you feel safe and seen. No matter who tries to make us go back to the closet and feel ashamed of who we are, we can always carve out space for ourselves and each other, as long as we are not afraid to speak out and act up for ourselves and each other.
