In June 2019, people around the world are marking and celebrating 50 years since the uprising at the Stonewall Inn in New York City that ushered in the modern movement for LGBTQ rights. While the largest celebration will no doubt be the one in New York, which for the first time is also hosting WorldPride events, Pride month celebrations are taking place across the country and the globe, in events large and small. LGBTQ communities in Alabama, while aware of the threats and attitudes they may face in their very conservative and often intolerant state, are joining in the celebration, reflecting on how far they’ve come, and looking to the future.
Florence, Alabama, is a small city in the northwest of the state, located across the Tennessee River from Muscle Shoals. It is hosting a series of Pride events this month, culminating in a parade on June 29. In May and again earlier this month, Florence event organizers Shoals Diversity Center and Equality Shoals requested permission from the city to paint chalk rainbows in crosswalks in honor of Pride month. The organizers say they thought they had that permission, and the project, Paint for Pride, went ahead, with volunteers painting the crosswalks on June 13. Immediately after they had finished, the city set about removing the rainbows, claiming that the organizers had not actually received permission for it.
Happily, amidst outrage and distress over the city’s actions, Shoals Diversity Center and Equality Shoals wrote to the mayor and police chief, who both responded, and the final outcome of communication between the parties was a unanimous resolution of the city council approving repainting of the crosswalks for Pride month. The local TimesDaily reported, “The decision, which was greeted with applause from many attending the meeting, comes after the city of Florence had removed a Pride rainbow design last week that had been drawn in chalk at the intersection. ‘They righted a wrong and I'm very appreciative of the common sense and just doing the right thing,’ said Stuart Ausbon, one of the people who coordinated the chalk project. [...] Ausbon added he is not surprised by Tuesday's decision to allow the chalk work. ‘I knew that this wonderful and loving village that surrounds me and my family and friends would win out,’ he said. ‘That's the Florence I know and the Florence that we all love.’"
Huntsville, on track through development and population change to bypass Birmingham and Montgomery to become Alabama’s largest city in the next few years, has an active LBGTQ community that hosts events throughout the year. For Pride month, the organization Rocket City Pride has a whole slate of events planned, including dinners, brunches, pageants, skating and bowling nights, a party celebrating the 50th anniversary of Stonewall, and the annual Huntsville Pride parade on June 29.
Of course, exciting as these events are, and encouraging as their very existence is for progress in deeply conservative Alabama, being out and open in the state is still an exercise in bravery that requires vigilance and thick skin. Alabama has no laws protecting LGBTQ people from hate crimes; attempts to have the state add them specifically to its hate crime legislation have so far failed.
Meanwhile, the first transgender person known to have been murdered in the United States in 2019 was shot on Jan. 6 in Montgomery. As news reports about the killing of Dana Martin note, she was misgendered by law enforcement who investigated the crime. And in April, 15-year-old Huntsville High School student Nigel Shelby took his own life after enduring bullying over his identity. His home state of Alabama has on its books laws on education that mandate, with regard to sex education, that the curriculum for such a program must include “An emphasis, in a factual manner and from a public health perspective, that homosexuality is not a lifestyle acceptable to the general public and that homosexual conduct is a criminal offense under the laws of the state.” (Alabama codes have not been updated, apparently, to reflect that “homosexual conduct,” as of the Supreme Court decision in Lawrence v. Texas in 2003, is no longer considered a crime.)
Even more recently, the elected treasurer of Mobile County on the Alabama Gulf Coast posted to the Mobile County Republican Party Facebook page, “Freaking queers have gotten too much sympathy. A real abomination.” Given the chance to explain his comment, Phil Benson elaborated, “[G]ay people are offensive to me. Do you understand that? … They can be very offensive. All this beautiful rainbow stuff. When one of our presidents lit the White House with wonderful rainbow colors that offended me.” Asked by a reporter if he had any apologies to make for his comments, Benson said, “I’m sorry they are offended. Their lifestyle offends me.”
These are just a few examples, of course, and they range from horrific to appalling to just plain stupid. But the everyday obstacles and attitudes LGBTQ people must contend with just to live their lives in the state of Alabama in peace, safety, and honesty, and the work that still needs to be done, make it difficult sometimes to stop and reflect on the accomplishments of the strong, resilient people working to make things better. But there are things to celebrate this Pride month.
Global Ties U.S. is a nonprofit organization that partners with the U.S. Department of State to encourage cultural exchange programs that bring people from all over the world to the United States. Global Ties Alabama, the state’s affiliate, states on its Facebook page that it “work[s] under the auspices of the U.S. State Department's International Visitors Leadership Program, and [has] a Global Perspectives Institute and an educational outreach program with the Academy for Science and Foreign Languages. We also have a Diplomatic Corps of volunteers who promote citizen diplomacy.” This year, GTA invited the LGBTQ community to contribute to an ongoing diversity exhibit it curates at the Madison County Courthouse.
Daniel Walker of GLSEN Greater Huntsville told Daily Kos that the Pride display features the work of local artists. He said, “The display is positioned so that every visitor to the courthouse will see it as they pass through a security checkpoint.” Although county and city officials have not commented specifically on the display, Walker said, “We’ve received positive feedback on other Pride events from the city of Huntsville diversity office. I curated the materials myself, and activist Monica Evans and I built the display without any outside influence.”
Walker pointed to the growing visibility and energy of the LGBTQ community in Huntsville. “GLSEN Greater Huntsville and the Rocket City Rainbow Pages are new organizations in the past six months. The community is growing rapidly, and the display is a testament to the hard work of organizations that built a foundation for a vibrant community. We’ve received an overwhelmingly positive response via social media,” said Walker. “The display is a powerful sign of diversity, acceptance, and inclusion.”
Added Evans, “We understand and support everyone’s right to hold differing opinions on matters such as these, and sincerely appreciate that our local officials have allowed this display. It’s a huge step in the right direction. Live and let live, that is all the LGBTQ community is asking for. That’s all they’re asking.”
LGBTQ Alabamians and their allies, as well as visitors from outside the state, can take part in many events scheduled for Pride 2019 in Florence and Huntsville this month. Additionally, Mobile Pridefest will take place on Oct. 5; Tuscaloosa’s fourth annual Druid City Pride Festival is on Oct. 6; and Pride events have already taken place in Birmingham and Auburn.