Author's Note: This article was initially published on Newstalk 96.5 in response to problematic articles posted by a local newspaper and general hatred on June 14, 2023.
Pride Month in Jackson, TN
As a queer individual raised in the Hub City area, I have had my fair share of confrontations. Tennessee has always been home, but for me, the famed southern hospitality is nothing more than false niceties to hide whispered judgements. Jackson wants to pride itself on being a good city filled with nice, loving people, but when it comes time for people to celebrate empowerment, self-enlightenment, and education, it becomes a pit of hatred and bigotry fueled by misplaced religious extremism and fascism.
Professor Kimberlé Crenshaw, co-founder of the African American Policy Forum, developed the concept of intersectionality back in 1989, which is meant to help describe how power connects and collides. This is a complicated concept that tends to upset individuals with power because it holds a mirror directly up to their faces to analyze how certain factors like gender, race, sexuality, financial background, etc. give them leverage over the considered minorities. Every day, this is evident in our beloved city more and more. The current Jackson election is a debacle with a bankrupted used-car salesman blatantly speaking hatred against the LGBTQ+ community multiple times who also co-founded the hate group We the People of West Tennessee long before his announcement. These issues all intersect and are built off hundreds of years of history, and that local candidate has been using the same hateful rhetoric used by Nazis in World War II.
LGBTQ+ Pride is not a new concept. Before Hitler rose to power, the Institut für Sexualwissenschaft, a German name that roughly translates to the Institute of Sexology, had amassed more than 20,000 books that were dedicated to studies on gender and sexuality. On May 6, 1933, the Institute was raided by Nazi demonstrators who subsequently burned or destroyed all the material. Anything deemed un-Christian or un-German was destroyed by groups emboldened by Hitler’s horrific ideologies. Sound familiar? These ideas and habits align completely with current Fundamentalist practices and beliefs. In February of 2022, Tennessee Pastor Greg Locke hosted a book burning for his congregation to burn any “accursed items.”
Being told that seeking equity is attempting to put people into submission is utterly laughable and evidence of the lack of comprehension of what Pride is meant to do and to be. Pride is about being authentic to the most genuine version of yourself possible, and a lot of people refuse to recognize this because they are simply misinformed or want control over others. Describing and understanding your identity is an intricately personal experience that absolutely no one else has authority over, and this is a fact. Not a single person on this planet can say who you are, and I think that is a beautiful freedom we all should continue to enjoy. On June 28, 1969, the Stonewall Riots began because of raids to seek out LGBTQ+ community members. Marsha P. Johnson and several other trans women of color and community members fought back bravely, even at the risk of being religiously persecuted. A year later, the first Pride parade was born.
Being from a primarily conservative, lower-middle class family, I grew up with normalized bigotry. I was told I needed to conform to traditional gender roles, attended church every time the doors were open, and although my parents suffered with their issues, I maintained straight-A’s and a 4.0 my entire time in grade school. I had limited access to any information about more than the basics I found in bits and pieces, let alone any proper sex education that wasn’t filled with toxic purity culture and fear mongering intended to bring young people, especially young girls, shame. Yet, I still wound up queer. I was in the fifth grade when I came out as bisexual, and I was told by my guidance counselor that I needed to “seek Jesus and repent,” instead of receiving any actual assistance for the bullying I was enduring.
As a teenager, I continued to do my research and learned about being nonbinary. Something I have understood about myself since I was about three, I finally had the terminology to describe. I cut my hair short, began dressing in a way that felt more like me, and had more confidence than ever. I even attended Tennessee Tech’s Governor’s School for Business and IT Leadership, and that was an immensely affirming experience with peers that accepted me without hate or question. We worked together to develop and present mock business plans without issues, which helped drive the passion for entrepreneurship I have today. If my gender or sexuality had been made an issue, I would not have had the same experience. Now, I am a student with the University of Memphis Global program and could not be more grateful for the chance to achieve a lifelong goal of becoming a college graduate.
Now, I am one of the co-founders of West Tennessee LGBTQ+ Support, LLC., and we are dedicated to ensuring our community has access to the resources and aid they often desperately need. Since our founding, we have had dozens of threatening emails, Facebook comments, and other forms of trolling that have ranged from hilarious to downright atrocious. I am frequently asked if I am phased by this, but it truly becomes water down my shoulders when I see the lack of proper understanding for what it is to live the queer experience. Most hateful people simply are unable to comprehend anything other than their tiny boxes of classification, choosing instead to lash out at individuals who are living their lives how they wish. I have met people who have said our group has given them a greater sense of involvement in the community and local events as well as providing access and information to connect them to the help they need. That brings me joy beyond measure. All I ever try to do is help protect the people I care about.
I share my own personal experience to highlight that we are average, everyday people. I have two beautiful kids I would give my life for and a partner that loves me for who I am. We live out in the country, love lake days and hiking with a good barbecue afterwards, and we work hard to take care of our family. However, I see so much hatred coming from people in the Hub City, and most of it is coming from a small group of people who will never attempt to find a middle ground.
As a city and state, we have bigger things to worry about than who someone else loves and what genitals someone has between their legs. Many of these discussions aim to frame drag queens and trans people as groomers, yet there are no actual laws against teachers and pastors grooming children they have a regular power over. With a drag ban that made national news that has been struck down by a Trump-appointed judge, it is easy to recognize the gross violation of our freedom of speech that comes at the cost of spending time on legislation that would actually save our children.
Jackson has a lot of work to do to find synergy as a community. Restricting anyone’s personal freedoms is against what our Constitution was built upon, and I hope that more people in the community that use their religion as an opportunity to hate persecuted people will take that hatred and put it into productive avenues of activism and follow the golden rule.
References
CNN. (2022, February 6). See Tennessee pastor burn ‘Twilight’ and ‘Harry Potter’ books. https://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2022/02/06/pastor-holds-bonfire-burning-books-harry-potter-and-twilight-orig-as.cnn
Crenshaw, K. (2016). The urgency of intersectionality. TED: Ideas Worth Spreading. https://www.ted.com/talks/kimberle_crenshaw_the_urgency_of_intersectionality
History.com Editors. (2017, May 31). Stonewall riots. HISTORY. https://www.history.com/topics/gay-rights/the-stonewall-riots
Nast, C. (2017, September 20). Nazis destroyed this amazing LGBTQ library in Germany. Teen Vogue. https://www.teenvogue.com/story/lgbtq-institute-in germany-was-burned-down-by-nazis
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