The Trevor Project believes unequivocally that Black Lives Matter and that we need to actively work to end systemic racism. It demeans the dignity of all of us to see some of us treated unjustly and inhumanely.
LGBTQ people have an obligation to stand in solidarity with the Black community. That’s not just because Black people—and specifically Black trans people—were among those in the vanguard of fighting for LGBTQ equality at Compton’s Cafeteria, Stonewall, and many other places. And that’s not just because many people in the LGBTQ community are Black. Instead, LGBTQ people have a special obligation to stand in solidarity with the Black community because it is right and necessary. We cannot ignore that recent civil rights advances for all LGBTQ people are based on the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which was fought for by so many Black Americans struggling for freedom.
All people are not free today. We see so much injustice. And we know that far too many of us have been silent for too long about the way Black people are treated in this country.
The movie 13th, by Ava DuVernay, ends with powerful words by Brian Stevenson, the civil rights advocate. He said: “People say all the time, well I don’t understand how people could’ve tolerated slavery? How could they have made peace with that? How could people have gone to a lynching and participated in that? That’s so [outrageous], if I was living in that time, I would never have tolerated anything like that. And the truth is, we are living in this time, and we are tolerating it.”
We cannot tolerate it anymore. The Trevor Project will continue to stand with the Black community and make clear that Black Lives Matter.
