Our country has had an “it’s complicated” relationship status when it comes to liberation.
Black history began very early on in U.S. history which also includes the full spectrum of the diaspora across the transatlantic. Immigration has been a long-standing battle around who particularly deserves opportunities to witness and thrive within the American Dream. Queer rights have had a decades-long battle and when those rights have been won there have been continuous conversations and legal battles attempting to overturn human freedoms. And the common denominator in all of these? The Sunshine State of Florida.
The road to liberation has been hard, however it is obtainable if those within marginalized communities, particularly Black, Brown and Queer communities forge and fight together against systems that were created to keep them oppressed and suppressed since its inception. Due to the firm stand of trans women of color and a national movement of solidarity seen throughout the Civil Rights era, in 1976, President Gerald Ford officially recognized the month of February as Black History
Month and encouraged the public to “seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of Black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history.” Black and Queer history IS American history, and we acknowledge it every day.
In Florida, current “leaders’’ of the state with the governor at the helm are attempting to do everything in their power to eliminate the existence of LGBTQIA+ communities and the history of Black Americans in every area by abolishing AP African American studies in high school, criminalizing communities of color by voting, prohibiting students and teachers from proclaiming their love, stripping away reproductive rights from families, attacking trans youth and their parents and punishing school districts that have created safe spaces for queer students and families to name a few. Now is the time for members of these communities and those with firm allyship to stand in solidarity with one message: You cannot erase American history by trying to erase the communities that helped to shape the America of today.
Florida’s super majority GOP legislature has sharply targeted marginalized communities within the state. This year, legislators have proposed bills HB 1521 and SB 1674 that would force those within the trans community to use public restrooms that align with the “gender assigned to them at birth.” Not only is this an invasion of privacy, but it also places those that identify as trans in harmful situations physically and mentally. To add, SB 1438 takes away business licenses or liquor licenses from places that have drag shows where minors may be present. This has already taken place at a hotel in Miami, as well as at a local venue in Orlando run by an arts nonprofit. For further context, HB 1069 expands the already hatefully targeted “Don’t Say Gay or Trans’’ bill to 8th grade students. Meanwhile, HB 1557 has already resulted in teachers losing their jobs, LGBTQIA+ safe spaces being shut down and pride flags being prohibited. This expansion will ban books by removing them from school libraries as soon as a parent objects to its content.
It was the queer community that catapulted the world into expressive freedom and gave voice to Black queer liberation. It was progressive and people first values that endorsed a homosexual rights platform at the Democratic national convention in August of 1980. Since then, what has been deemed as the “woke culture” has led a radical movement for inclusivity in our nation’s politics and in 2023 we find ourselves slowly repealing the progress that was made and placed into law by those afraid of the new majority and progress of this country. We are the fabric of Florida, and we acknowledge it every day.
Those that support these types of bills and policies will tell you that the “intention” is to protect children in the state.
However, the impact is that it deviates from the real issues that our children and those that live in Florida must face every day. As a former educator, as someone who works closely and successfully within youth and community development and now as a new father, when I think about the future of my children and their children and the children after them, the data doesn’t support that drag queens and bathroom bans are the issue. It’s guns. Violence. Bullying, both cyber and in person.
It’s mental health. Let us not forget that Florida is home to some of the most violent acts that have happened to the queer community with the Pulse massacre in 2016, and home to the mass killing of school-aged children with the Parkland shooting in 2018. Where’s the legislation that addresses protecting our state from the number one issue that is taking the lives of so many innocent people? If you’re wondering, the response is the new open carry law that will go into effect July 1. This places more guns throughout communities in the state which is a far greater risk to our children’s safety.
We all have an obligation to be informed on the issues that most impact us. Whether you directly associate with a marginalized group — which is most of us — or you stand in solidarity and allyship — which should be all of us — remember you have a voice. That voice should be used to better humanity and not to attempt to erase it.
Chevalier Lovett (he/him, they/them) proudly serves as the Chief Operating Officer for Florida Rising, an organization committed to building independent political power in Florida’s most vulnerable and marginalized communities.
