Queer New Yorkers Make a Mark at the Inauguration
LGBTQ folks from the Big Apple travel to DC as new president takes offi ce
BY TAT BELLAMY-WALKER
New Yorkers who fl ocked
to Washington, DC for
the inauguration of
President Joe Biden
and Vice President Kamala Harris
were met with an eerily quiet atmosphere
on the ground.
“There was no big protest or
counter-protest to the fascist,”
long-time queer activist Lisa
Fithian told Gay City News. “But
there was a lot of messaging and
creative things that had happened.”
However, Fithian, who made
the journey from the Big Apple to
Washington, DC on January 20,
explained that New York activists
used art to make their voices
heard. Gays Against Guns (GAG),
a queer-driven gun violence prevention
organization, plastered
signs near the Capitol that read
“End White Terror” and “Disarm
Hate.” In a video, GAG demanded
the new administration denounce
racism.
“My hope for the administration
is that you spend real attention
to the way white supremacy has
spread throughout law enforcement
in this country,” Jay Walker,
an organizer of GAG, said in a video
posted on the group’s YouTube
channel. “At the local level, at the
state level, at the federal level, and
also at civil defense. We need your
administration to address this
problem.”
Tricia Cooke, a member of GAG
and the Reclaim Pride Coalition,
A new administration rolls into the nation’s capital.
A vibrant, intersectional display of protest art outside the White House.
which organizes an alternative
Pride march in Manhattan, said
there were several armed offi cers
on the ground.
“I kind of know what it feels like
to be in a bit of a war zone and
that’s what it felt like,” said Cooke,
who posted fl yers for GAG in DC
ahead of the inauguration. “Even
more so because it was just National
Guard and soldiers.”
However, outside of some demonstrators
and journalists, Cooke
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said the nearby area was a “ghost
town.”
During the afternoon, attendees
said there was an increase in people
gathering at Black Lives Matter
Plaza, a two-block-long pedestrian
section at 16th Street NW. Fithian
said many people were anxious to
come outside because of the pandemic
and due to the deadly Capitol
riots on January 6.
“For the most part, people are
afraid,” Fithian told Gay City News.
INAUGURATION
“Afraid of violence and COVID
too, so a lot of people are staying
home.”
Even some loud and rambunctious
anti-LGBTQ demonstrators
made a pit stop in DC for the inauguration
and harassed queer
folks who were walking by on the
street.
Although the energy in Washington
was different than in past
years, Fithian explained that
there was a moment toward the
end of the day when two men of
color were cleansing the area near
the Capitol. She described it as a
mark of the end of a Trumpian
era.
“It was a really powerful day
with solemn, but powerful moments,”
she said.
Still, in many parts of the US,
LGBTQ people viewed the inauguration
from home. Sunny Marks,
a Black trans disability advocate
from Philadelphia, watched
the ceremony on their computer.
Marks said they wanted to see
more Black trans representation
during the inauguration, though
they told Gay City News they are
cautiously optimistic of changes
to come under a Biden-Harris administration.
“I think small steps of legislation
are possible,” said Marks,
who met Biden’s newly-appointed
assistant secretary for health, Rachel
Levine, during a workshop
years ago in Pennsylvania. “But,
I don’t think the changes are full
liberation because we are still under
white supremacy.”
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Good riddance, Donald!
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Baby Trump dances his last dance at BLM Plaza!
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Lisa Fithian celebrates the end of a nightmare.
GayCityNews.com | JANUARY 28 - FEBRUARY 10, 2021 21
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