CIVIL RIGHTS
Stonewall Celebration Keeps an Eye on the Future
Leaders hail landmark Supreme Court ruling, renew calls racial, social justice activism
BY MATT TRACY
As the sun set on a momentous
day in queer
history, the New York
City LGBTQ community
huddled at the birthplace of the
modern movement for a jubilant
celebration of historic gains and a
sobering call for action to continue
the fi ght for progress.
Nearby streets were still largely
deserted due to the coronavirus
pandemic as a crowd of a couple
hundred people surrounded the
Stonewall Inn on June 15 just
hours after the Supreme Court
ushered in employment protections
for queer workers in a landmark
6-3 decision that came fi ve years
after the court declared same-sex
marriage legal nationwide.
A diverse slate of speakers,
standing in front of the entrance of
the Stonewall Inn, took turns with
a bullhorn emphasizing the importance
of the new protections, highlighting
the experience of Black
transgender women who are constantly
under attack, and echoing
the emerging movement to defund
police departments and reinvest
in communities. Activists also issued
reminders that employment
protections are only worth it if organizations
are mindful of racial
and gender diversity in their hiring
practices.
Rainbow Flags, Trans Flags,
and adapted Rainbow Flags with
black and brown stripes to focus
on communities of color waved
in the air, couples embraced, and
sounds of cheers were audible from
down the street on a cool Monday
evening in Greenwich Village. At
one point during the hour-and-ahalf
long rally, a person in a topfl
oor apartment adjacent to the bar
closed their window in an apparent
response to the loud cheers
that erupted from below.
But the speakers, having waited
long enough for this moment,
made it clear they weren’t about
to sit back and stay quiet. That
was especially evident the day before
when an estimated crowd of
15,000 or more people showed up
Tanya A. Walker, a co-founder of the New York Transgender Advocacy Group.
The June 15 Stonewall gathering drew a boisterous and diverse crowd.
to march for Black trans lives in
Brooklyn.
TS Candii, a sex worker and activist
who has been a leading fi gure
in the movement to decriminalize
sex work in New York State,
acknowledged the historic moment
and used the opportunity to deliver
impassioned remarks about just
how close the State Legislature is
to repealing a loitering law known
as a ban on “Walking While Trans”
due to the way cops have used the
statute to stop and harass transgender
women of color without
cause. To this point, the legislative
effort has attracted enough
co-sponsors in the upper house to
ensure its passage, and Governor
DONNA ACETO
DONNA ACETO
Andrew Cuomo endorsed it earlier
this year.
“What we need now is pressure
on the higher power, the higher
people in the state capital,” said
Candii, who also led the crowd in
“sex work is work” chants.
“We have to bring the bill to a
vote because Black transgender
women like myself, we get stopped
and frisked for just walking down
the street or the clothes we’re wearing,”
she said. “We get criminalized
because of fashion.”
Jason Walker, a gay activist who
has also been active in HIV/ AIDS
work, was joined by his mother as
he, too, encouraged the community
to keep a focus on the future.
“This is a shared day of celebration,
but it’s also a shared day of
reminders that there is still much
work to be done together to ensure
that equal rights and civil rights
are implemented,” he said, before
pointing to the need to address unemployment
and prioritize key vulnerable
demographics like homeless
youth. “We’ve got to continue
to stay vigilant, continue to hold
space for each other, and we have
to continue to center Black women
and trans and cis women.”
Marti Gould Cummings, a drag
artist, activist, and 2021 Manhattan
City Council candidate who
was beaten by the NYPD during
a protest earlier this month, also
had a turn to speak in front of the
crowd.
“We have to defund the police.
What does that mean? We have to
put money into the communities
that have been impacted the most,”
Cummings said. They also echoed
calls to shift funding toward areas
like healthcare, education, homelessness,
and affordable housing
and stressed that white folks who
remain silent are being complicit
in racial injustice.
Tanya A. Walker, co-founder of
the New York Transgender Advocacy
Group, used her time to invoke
the late Marsha P. Johnson, describing
her as “the most beautiful
person you’d ever want to meet.”
“Marsha really cared about the
young kids,” Walker said. “She
would feed the homeless kids
out here prostituting and selling
their bodies to eat and live. And
she would ask them to go back to
school after their parents threw
them out.”
Among others who spoke at the
event included Cecilia Gentili, drag
artist Peppermint, LaLa Holston-
Zannell, Brooklyn district leader
candidate Samy Nemir-Olivares,
and Jay W. Walker. Some current
and former elected offi cials were
in attendance, including out gay
Manhattan State Senator Brad
Hoylman, who is the lead sponsor
of the effort to repeal the “Walk-
➤ SCOTUS RALLY, continued on p.31
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