Last week, on July 23, 2019, The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the nation’s oldest civil rights organization, voted unanimously on 3 pro-LGBTQ resolutions with far reaching impact on their 2,000+ units/chapters across the country. The NAACP was a champion for marriage equality and remains a strong advocate for the Equality Act and is now taking action to do deeper work with their units and chapters to invoke change locally.
The resolutions marked the next chapter in the NAACP's support of our community: ending murders and violence against transgender women and supporting the transgender community, prevention and earlier detection of HIV, and inclusion of LGBTQ Diversity and Sensitivity training for units/chapters.
“Anyone who purports to care about the well-being of Black people must care about all of us all of the time. At a time when our community is under attack by occupants of the highest office in the country as well as the lowest depths of hatred and bigotry, it is noteworthy that the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is taking meaningful steps toward intersectional social justice. Too many people think that the gains made by the white lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer community are eroding civil protections for Black people and these people miss the fact that as long as there have been Black people there have been Black LGBTQ and same gender loving (SGL) people. Black LGBTQ/SGL people are vulnerable to discrimination and dying at a disproportionate rate and this does not have to be our reality. The resolutions passed by the NAACP will help to ensure that local chapters across the country do a better job of holding space and ensuring equality for all Black people. The National Black Justice Coalition is proud to serve as a resource.” - David Johns, Executive Director, National Black Justice Coalition
"As a Black, same gender loving woman who has been deeply disappointed in the lack of response and coverage across the country to the murder of Black transgender women, it brought me to tears to be at the convention as Black leadership from across the country voted to take action with us. The AIDS epidemic has continued to devastate the Black community and I am grateful the NAACP hasn't forgotten about us. Lastly, one of the principles of our #AllofMeAlltheTime campaign, with the National Black Justice Coalition, is to support organizations to live more deeply in seeing our community as a part of theirs beyond legislative or policy support in order to advance comprehensive non-discrimination protections that include all of who we are all of the time. We look forward to supporting, however we can, the NAACP as it does just that with their units/chapters across the country." - Victoria Kirby York, Deputy Director for the Advocacy and Action Department, National LGBTQ Task Force
For more information on the National Black Justice Coalition, and on how you can support the fight for gender justice across the country, visit nbjc.org. Their Gender Justice Toolkit is now available, be sure to check out to learn how you can lead potentially uncomfortable conversations around gender as effectively as possible.