06/07/2026
"Our Pride" - from BlackPAC's "The Village" Newsletter - Subscribe to The Village Media on YouTube or check us out on social . BTW, BlackPAC is on BlueSky and at blackpac.com - join the conversation! Community is everything in this moment. Encourage others to join the fight.
This Pride Month, we're reminded that some of the most influential freedom fighters in American history were Black LGBTQ+ leaders whose courage helped shape the very movements we celebrate today. When police raided the Stonewall Inn in 1969, it was activists like Marsha P. Johnson who helped spark a movement that would transform LGBTQ+ rights in America. Long before diversity became a corporate buzzword, James Baldwin challenged the nation to confront its hypocrisies, using his essays and novels to expose the intersections of race, sexuality, class, and power. And when hundreds of thousands gathered in Washington demanding jobs and freedom in 1963, one of the architects behind the historic march was Bayard Rustin, the openly gay strategist whose commitment to nonviolent resistance helped shape the Civil Rights Movement itself.
Their stories remind us of a simple truth: progress has never been handed to us. Every expansion of freedom in this country has required ordinary people willing to organize, speak out, march, write, vote, and refuse to disappear.
And with pride comes celebration. If you're looking for ways to celebrate Black q***r joy, community, and resilience this month, our friends at Capital B News have curated a nationwide guide to Black Pride celebrations, from Washington, D.C., and New Orleans to Memphis and Chicago.
