by Elinor Aspegren

Pride Month began Monday. Many in the LGBTQ community, however, were unsure how to celebrate without overshadowing the ongoing nationwide protests over racial injustice spurred by the death of George Floyd.

But activist Jay W. Walker told USA TODAY that the struggle against oppression is inseparable from the LGBTQ rights movement.

“The truth is that the movement for black civil rights and the LGBTQ+ movement – the Pride movement – have always exhibited a certain level of intersectionality,” said Walker, the co-founder of Reclaim Pride Coalition, a group that created the Queer Liberation March, first staged last year in New York.

That's one reason why Reclaim Pride will march again this year, in person – not only for the rights of the LGBTQ community but to elevate and protect black lives.

Many LGBTQ organizations sent out statements in support of protests following the killing of Floyd, a black man who died under the knee of a white police officer in Minneapolis, pointing out the radical origins of the LGBTQ rights movement.

One such organization, Christopher Street West, the organizers of L.A. Pride, announced Wednesday that it would also hold a solidarity march in response to racial injustice and systemic racism. Read more via USA Today