Wednesday, June 28
6:00 pm
Indianapolis Liberation Center
55 S. State Ave.
3rd Floor Auditorium
PSL Indianapolis is 100% volunteer-led with no paid staff. Our finances come entirely from our members and generous people like you.
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This month’s Liberation Forum focuses on the radical roots of Pride, from the heroic uprising at the Stonewall Inn to fight-back strategies against current legislation attacking the rights of LGBTQ people. We all have a part to play in the struggle so join us to reflect and think about or discover your role in the collective fight for LGBTQ liberation!
Situated after Indy Pride 2023, before our protest at the Governor’s Mansion on June 30, and our struggle to kick IMPD out of Indy Pride—again—this is a key opportunity to dig deeper into the history of our struggle and analysis to better inform our strategies.
We’ll recall the revolutionary origins of Pride before hearing an in-depth examination of the intricacies of what is called the “slate of hate,” including the details of the set of laws, and the purposes behind this new round of anti-LGBTQ attacks.
The next portion, before our discussion period, features three short presentations on heroic figures in the contemporary LGBTQ struggle.
Since Indiana lawmakers are attacking transgender athletes in sports, we’ll reflect on the fight for LGBTQ acceptance of and participation in sports by looking at Glenn Burke, a Major League Baseball player who came out as openly gay in 1982. When Burke retired from sports he said, “They can’t ever say now that a gay man can’t play in the majors, because I’m a gay man and I made it.” They can’t ever say that we don’t stand together in a fight for our rights either!
Second, we’ll hear about two heroic freedom fighters, Marsha “Pay It No Mind” Johnson and Sylvia Rivera. These two organized across organizations and created their organization Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries or STAR!
Our final heroic figure highlighted is legendary activist, writer, and communist Leslie Feinberg, a groundbreaking transgender warrior at the forefront of the LGBTQ movement. Feinberg’s last words at the end of her incredible life are a call to action: “Hasten the revolution! Remember me as a revolutionary communist.”
Let our radical past be a source of inspiration to us as we celebrate the watershed moment of Stonewall to Pride to communist organizers to groundbreaking athletes. The LGBTQ struggle takes place on all fronts, and we all must play a role in the struggle for the liberation of LGBTQ people, which historically has been strongest when it’s been tied to the liberation struggles of Black people and all oppressed groups! If you want to be a part of that now, join the PSL!
