by Joe Siegel

America’s 250th birthday was not ignored by LGBTQ publications, which largely paid tribute to pioneers of the civil rights movement. The Washington Blade even published a “Queering America 250” LGBTQ history magazine.

“As the country commemorates 250 years, we wanted to do our part to ensure LGBTQ contributions to America were not ignored or forgotten,” said Kevin Naff, the Blade’s editor. “As this administration seeks to erase queer identities, it’s more important than ever that we speak up and remind the world that we have always been here and always will be.”

The magazine included a feature about 250 years of LGBTQ icons, including artists, politicians, educators, scientists and activists. “The second half of the 20th century was a civil rights era,” Malcolm Lazin, founder and executive director of Equality Forum, wrote. “In August 1963, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. defined a national civil rights movement on the National Mall at the March on Washington. That March would not have happened without the strategic and organizational skills of Bayard Rustin. Among other prominent African-American leaders were Congresswoman Barbara Jordan, author James Baldwin, and activist Angela Davis.”

The Dallas Voice ran a July 3 feature with the headline “The gays of our lives.” Writer David Taffet chronicled the LGBTQ politicians from the past and present who have shaped American history.

“There are three openly gay and lesbian governors serving: Jared Polis of Colorado, Maura Healey of Massachusetts and Tina Kotek of Oregon,” Taffet wrote. “And all of these recently-elected LGBTQ+ officials would give a nod to Harvey Milk, who moved to San Francisco from Dallas — which he hated — to open a camera store in the Castro. After losing a race for city supervisor in 1973 and then for state Assembly, he was elected city supervisor in 1977. In office less than a year when he was assassinated by a former city supervisor, he’s remembered as one the first out people elected to public office and for passing a comprehensive nondiscrimination bill that became a model for ordinances proposed around the country.”

The Seattle Gay News ran a July 4 editorial by managing editor Madison Jones entitled “US celebrates 250th Independence Day, but there’s little to be proud of as LGBTQIA+ people.”

“Queer and Trans people have served as highly effective political scapegoats to scare and distract working class people,” Jones wrote. “They are told by Republican politicians at both the state and federal level that their attention should be focused on fearing others who are different from them, whether it be LGBTQIA+ people, immigrants, racial and religious minorities, etc. … This happens all while tax dollars get funneled away from the programs that would ultimately help average people to further enrich the country’s wealthy. And so on this 250th U.S. Independence Day, it does not sit right with me to celebrate at all a country that has decided to so thoroughly reject, and trample upon, its ideals and morals.”

Mark Segal, founder and publisher of Philadelphia Gay News, had a more upbeat view of America’s birthday.

“Earlier this year, I received a call asking if I would ride on an LGBTQ+ Pride float in the Salute to Independence Semiquincentennial Parade — Philadelphia’s official Independence Day parade — on July 3,” Segal wrote. “We talked about what the float should represent, and we quickly agreed that there was no more recognizable symbol of LGBTQ+ Pride than Stonewall. I gladly accepted the invitation, joined by my husband, Jason Villemez — a celebration not only of Pride, but also of the marriage equality that so many fought to achieve.”

“So why am I so eager to ride on an LGBTQ+ float celebrating the 250th anniversary of the United States? The answer is simple. The fight for LGBTQ+ equality has always been a patriotic one,” Segal continued. “Since 1969, I have believed that our struggle for equal rights is rooted in the very ideals expressed in the Declaration of Independence — that all people are created equal and deserve liberty and justice. Those words inspired generations of Americans, and they inspired our movement as well.”

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Volume 28
Issue 6