PRIDE ACTION KIT
Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) has created a mini Pride Action Toolkit, especially for Pride week.
Intersectionality is at the heart of SURJ’s approach to working for racial justice.
If your local Pride organizers have been indifferent, insensitive or hostile to including issues of racial injustice, take action! Check out these action items that come in various shapes and sizes. Pick an action or two or more that feels doable and makes sense for you to do.
If your local Pride organizers have been indifferent, insensitive or hostile to including issues of racial injustice, take action! Check out these action items that come in various shapes and sizes. Pick an action or two or more that feels doable and makes sense for you to do.
Get Informed
Read up on how queer liberation is inseparable from racial justice. Throughout history, queer people of color have insisted on all of their multiple identities being seen and held. Like Audre Lorde, they wanted to be recognized as queer and people of color, as well as their other selves.
Check out these helpful articles:
Better Together: Bridging LGBT and Racial Justice. Published by Race Forward.
“Building Leadership Power: anti-racist Queer organizing in the South, an Interview with Carla F. Wallace of Louisville Kentucky’s Fairness Campaign” in Chris Crass, Toward Collective Liberation: Anti-Racist Organizing, Feminist Praxis, and Movement Building Strategy.
Op-Ed: Why Black Lives Should Matter to All LGBT People. Esperanza Garcia and Ty Brooks. The Advocate.
Do the Work: This is How You Can Support Trans Women of Color Right Now. Princess Harmony Rodriguez. Black Girl Dangerous.
In Light of Ferguson: The Struggle and Legacy of LGBTQ Survival and Imagination. Southerners on New Ground (SONG).
Lessons from Southern Queer Anti-Racist Organizing. A talk by Carla Wallace of the Fairness Campaign. Available in Catalyzing Liberation Toolkit: Anti-Racist Organizing to Build the 99% Movement. Compiled by the Catalyst Project and Chris Crass.
Mourners for Black Queer and Trans Lives Attacked by Castro Bar, by QTPOC Liberation. Truthout.org.
Black LGBT Faith Leaders on Why Black Lives Matter, by Stevie St. John. The Advocate.
Whose Lives Matter? Trans Women of Color and Police Violence. Princess Harmony Rodriguez. Black Girl Dangerous.
“Open Letter to My White LGBT Sisters and Brothers” By Diane Finnerty
Check out these helpful articles:
Better Together: Bridging LGBT and Racial Justice. Published by Race Forward.
“Building Leadership Power: anti-racist Queer organizing in the South, an Interview with Carla F. Wallace of Louisville Kentucky’s Fairness Campaign” in Chris Crass, Toward Collective Liberation: Anti-Racist Organizing, Feminist Praxis, and Movement Building Strategy.
Op-Ed: Why Black Lives Should Matter to All LGBT People. Esperanza Garcia and Ty Brooks. The Advocate.
Do the Work: This is How You Can Support Trans Women of Color Right Now. Princess Harmony Rodriguez. Black Girl Dangerous.
In Light of Ferguson: The Struggle and Legacy of LGBTQ Survival and Imagination. Southerners on New Ground (SONG).
Lessons from Southern Queer Anti-Racist Organizing. A talk by Carla Wallace of the Fairness Campaign. Available in Catalyzing Liberation Toolkit: Anti-Racist Organizing to Build the 99% Movement. Compiled by the Catalyst Project and Chris Crass.
Mourners for Black Queer and Trans Lives Attacked by Castro Bar, by QTPOC Liberation. Truthout.org.
Black LGBT Faith Leaders on Why Black Lives Matter, by Stevie St. John. The Advocate.
Whose Lives Matter? Trans Women of Color and Police Violence. Princess Harmony Rodriguez. Black Girl Dangerous.
“Open Letter to My White LGBT Sisters and Brothers” By Diane Finnerty
Take Action
2 MINUTE ACTION: IN JUST ONE CLICK YOU CAN SPREAD THE WORDSample Tweets:
Donate to support Queer and Trans People of Color-led organizations fighting for justice, such as the Trans Women of Color Collective (TWOCC).
20 MINUTE ACTION: WRITE OR SIGN STATEMENTS OF SUPPORT FOR THE MOVEMENT FOR BLACK LIVES and ask local LGBTQ organizations to sign. Publish in your local LGBTQ newspaper.
For an example, see this letter published in Boston Pride.
30 MINUTE ACTION: WRITE A LETTER TO THE EDITOR OR A BLOGPOST
Write a letter to the Editor of local LGBTQ newspaper about why race and queerness matters to you and why you support the inclusion of racial justice issues in the Pride events. Post it on our Facebook page.
Click here for tips on writing a letter to the editor.
Some prompts to start writing:
1 HOUR + ACTION: HOLD A HOUSEPARTY TO RECRUIT ACTIVISTS AND SPREAD THE WORD.
Invite friends, family, and members of your community over to your house for a dialogue on racial justice and Pride. Choose an article or video to discuss or talk about how racism is a queer issue and how your community can take action for racial justice this Pride Season. Ask people who attend to donate to a local Queer or Trans People of Color-led organization.
For tips on holding a house party, see these great resources from our affiliate groups:
2 HOUR + ACTION: CREATE LGBTQ RACIAL JUSTICE MESSAGING AND PARTICIPATE IN LOCAL PRIDE PARADE
Make racial justice messaging banners and signs for your local pride parade and participate in the parade. Some examples of banners could include: “Queers for Racial Justice” or “LGBTQ rights means racial justice” or “Queers Showing Up for Racial Justice #Black Lives Matter”. Take photos to share!
For some examples of other powerful actions that queer/LGBTQ groups have taken in solidarity with the movement for black lives over the last year, see:
Breaking:LGBTQ Community in South Carolina Blocks Bridge to Stand with #BlackLivesMatter, #BaltimoreUprising
#WickedPissed: Activists Halt Boston Pride Parade for 11 minutes
SFQueers4BlackLives
LGBT Community Members Shutdown Hwy 101 In San Francisco Protesting Police Violence
Activists Storm LGBTQ Conference in Wake of Queer Latina Killing in Denver
It's Kentucky Pride Week! March for Black Lives and Marriage Equality
- LGBTQ rights means racial justice. #BlackLivesMatter #BlackQueerLivesMatter #BlackTransLivesMatter @Showup4RJ
- For queer liberation, we must have racial justice. #Queersoutforblacklives #BlackLivesMatter, #QueersShowUp4RJ
- Queers Showing Up For Racial Justice #BlackLivesMatter #BlackTransLivesMatter #AllBlackLivesMatter
Donate to support Queer and Trans People of Color-led organizations fighting for justice, such as the Trans Women of Color Collective (TWOCC).
20 MINUTE ACTION: WRITE OR SIGN STATEMENTS OF SUPPORT FOR THE MOVEMENT FOR BLACK LIVES and ask local LGBTQ organizations to sign. Publish in your local LGBTQ newspaper.
For an example, see this letter published in Boston Pride.
30 MINUTE ACTION: WRITE A LETTER TO THE EDITOR OR A BLOGPOST
Write a letter to the Editor of local LGBTQ newspaper about why race and queerness matters to you and why you support the inclusion of racial justice issues in the Pride events. Post it on our Facebook page.
Click here for tips on writing a letter to the editor.
Some prompts to start writing:
- As a white queer person, racial justice matters to me because….
- I am speaking up and raising my voice to say enough is enough because….
1 HOUR + ACTION: HOLD A HOUSEPARTY TO RECRUIT ACTIVISTS AND SPREAD THE WORD.
Invite friends, family, and members of your community over to your house for a dialogue on racial justice and Pride. Choose an article or video to discuss or talk about how racism is a queer issue and how your community can take action for racial justice this Pride Season. Ask people who attend to donate to a local Queer or Trans People of Color-led organization.
For tips on holding a house party, see these great resources from our affiliate groups:
- House Party Kit -- Kentuckians for the Commonwealth
- Living Room Conversations -- Rural Organizing Project
- Building a Movement through Monthly Dialogues -- Alliance of White Anti-Racists Everywhere-Los Angeles (AWARE-LA)
2 HOUR + ACTION: CREATE LGBTQ RACIAL JUSTICE MESSAGING AND PARTICIPATE IN LOCAL PRIDE PARADE
Make racial justice messaging banners and signs for your local pride parade and participate in the parade. Some examples of banners could include: “Queers for Racial Justice” or “LGBTQ rights means racial justice” or “Queers Showing Up for Racial Justice #Black Lives Matter”. Take photos to share!
For some examples of other powerful actions that queer/LGBTQ groups have taken in solidarity with the movement for black lives over the last year, see:
Breaking:LGBTQ Community in South Carolina Blocks Bridge to Stand with #BlackLivesMatter, #BaltimoreUprising
#WickedPissed: Activists Halt Boston Pride Parade for 11 minutes
SFQueers4BlackLives
LGBT Community Members Shutdown Hwy 101 In San Francisco Protesting Police Violence
Activists Storm LGBTQ Conference in Wake of Queer Latina Killing in Denver
It's Kentucky Pride Week! March for Black Lives and Marriage Equality
Thanks to Meta Mendel-Reyes, Dara Silverman, Leah Carnine, Cole Parke, Sam Hamlin, Becky Rafter, Carla Wallace, and many others for time, energy, work and feedback to create this Action Toolkit!