Black Americans Built Queer Liberation
By: Emily Sayre
Let’s dive into American history and learn about how the enslaved fighting for freedom paved the way for queer liberation.
The historical legacy of Juneteenth (June 19th) shows the value of never giving up hope in uncertain times. The multiple amendments, laws, and organizations that were created as a result of the emancipation of enslaved Black Americans have directly led to, and are still helping, liberation for all queer people in the United States. You can expect this article to be a very information-heavy deep dive, so sit back, relax, and learn some history!
PS - there will be a graphic at the end for my lovely visual learners too <3
LGBTQ+ Rights Movement
Let’s first recognize some prominent Black figures in queer American history:
William Dorsey Swann (b. 1860) was born into slavery and is known as the first person to identify as a "queen of drag,” paving the way for future drag queens and gay men of color. He was also the first person in the U.S. to lead a queer resistance group; his legal efforts are said to have been one of the first instances of queer activism, initiating conversations about the LGBTQ+ community and leading the way for the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement.
Marsha P. Johnson (b. 1945) was a foundational leader of the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement. She helped to found the Gay Liberation Front in 1969 and co-founded Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (S.T.A.R.), which provided resources, support, and housing for gay, transgender, and gender non-conforming people living in New York City. You can read more about her impact within the queer community, and the start of what we know as Pride today, in our March article March for Gender Liberation!
Deborah Batts (b. 1947) was the first publicly out lesbian federal judge. She served the Southern District of New York and presided over prominent civil litigations and lawsuits involving political corruption, terrorism, and criminal justice. Federal Judge Pamela Chen said Batts “literally broke down the closet door and allowed the rest of us to walk through it.”
Freedom’s Eve
On the first day of 1863, African Americans across the country, enslaved and free alike, awaited news that the Emancipation Proclamation had taken effect— a declaration by the sitting president that all enslaved people in Confederate states were to be free. It wasn’t until two years later that the 13th Amendment was passed, stating that “neither slavery nor involuntary servitude” would be legal in the United States. Even with the Emancipation Proclamation and the 13th Amendment signed, not all enslaved folks were free; those who lived in Texas were still enslaved for an additional 139 days after this amendment was passed, 900 days after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed.
NAACP
Even though, legally, Black Americans were freed, they still did not have the same and equal rights as their white counterparts. The outbreak of anti-Black violence, particularly with the lynchings that occurred during the 1908 race riots in Springfield, was the tipping point that led to the creation of the NAACP. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is considered one of the nation's largest and most widely recognized civil rights organizations. They aimed to secure the 13th Amendment (an end to slavery), the 14th Amendment (addresses citizenship rights and equal protection under the law), and the 15th Amendment (the right for all men, regardless of race or color, to vote) for all people. In 2017, the NAACP President pledged to openly and forcefully support those in the transgender communities as they fight the efforts to codify anti-discrimination into law.
Reconstruction Amendments
Some of the struggles that Black Americans faced in the years following slavery to the current day can be reflected in struggles that the LGBTQ+ communities have faced through the 1900s to now. (Hello, intersectionality!!)
[IMAGE: intersectionality]
The Reconstruction Amendments (13th, 14th, and 15th), adopted between 1865 and 1870, intended to guarantee freedom, grant certain civil rights, and provide protection from discrimination to all citizens of the United States.
It’s important to recognize that the 14th Amendment was created as a direct result of emancipating slaves by granting citizenship to all persons "born or naturalized in the United States," affirming that birthright citizenship cannot be revoked from children born to disfavored minorities. It also provides all citizens with “equal protection under the laws,” a ruling that plays a significant role in protecting LGBTQ+ individuals from discrimination.
14th Amendment, Title VII, and Title IX
The ACLU does acknowledge that the 14th Amendment was first and foremost designed to ensure legal equality for Black Americans, however, the Supreme Court wrote the language broad enough that courts have interpreted the Equal Protection Clause to prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender, religion, disability, and sexual orientation. Because of this, the 14th Amendment has been cited and used by the Supreme Court to strike down discrimination laws against LGBTQ+ communities.
The ACLU also argues that the 14th Amendment guarantees the right to privacy. This prevents states from infringing on certain personal freedoms, and many Supreme Court cases have ruled that decisions about intimate relationships are personal and should be left up to the individual, which is backed by the 14th Amendment’s right to privacy.
Title VII and Title IX are two examples of how the 14th Amendment has been interpreted. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was the most sweeping civil rights legislation since the Reconstruction Amendments and was fought for by Black Americans to, in layman's terms, outlaw segregation. Title VII, a section of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, protects individuals from discrimination in the workplace “based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.” Because of this, the Supreme Court ruled that discrimination based on sexual orientation or affirmed gender amounts to discrimination because of sex, which is protected under Title VII.
Similarly, Title IX protects any person from sex-based discrimination in federally funded education programs regardless of their sex, gender identity, and/or gender expression. The term “sex” here is defined the same way as mentioned above: discrimination based on sexual orientation or affirmed gender amounts to discrimination because of sex. Even though this protection was solidified by the Biden administration, federal judges are currently ruling otherwise and putting LGBTQ+ communities in danger.
What’s the Importance?
Because of how much power the 14th Amendment has, the Trump administration is actively attacking it and its ideologies. While his push to nullify birthright citizenship is meant to target children of immigrants more so than Black or queer Americans, it is still rooted in the racism that led to its creation. What’s to say the attack on birth-based citizenship won’t lead to an attack on ancestry-based citizenship? Denying citizenship to a group of people born in the U.S. will indefinitely lead to stigma, racial profiling, and questioning of the citizenship of all sorts of families. After all, they are already deporting legal, American children.
How does this relate to the LGBTQ+ communities? Well, the Trump administration is actively trying to strip queer people of protections against discrimination through employment, housing, education, health care, and a range of federal government programs. The racism and homophobia that the current administration is spewing is something that many organizations, most notably the ACLU, are fighting against.
[IMAGE: Black Liberation to Queer Liberation]
With this graphic, you can clearly see how the progress Black Americans made towards freedom and equality has paved the way for queer liberation. I know the work that the Trump administration is doing to halt and reverse liberation for all was briefly touched upon in this article. This is something we have frequently addressed in past issues, so instead, this article is meant to focus on and highlight the Black activists to whose work we owe so much. As you participate in Pride activities, and talk about queer history this month, be sure to actively recognize where the freedom to be able to do so comes from.
We wouldn’t have Pride if Black Americans hadn’t led the way for their own liberation.