Pride & Juneteenth 2020

On June 15th, 51 years after the Stonewall uprising, the United States Supreme Court declared that employment discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity is illegal. 
 
PUAH celebrates that decision, but even more so, we lift up those whose courage and conviction made all advances for Queer rights possible. We must never forget that June’s LGBTQI+ Pride celebrations commemorate an uprising led by Black and Brown trans women and homeless gay youth. 
 
In 1969, when the police raided the Stonewall Inn in New York ’s Greenwich Village, “homosexual acts” were illegal in every state except Illinois. Bars and restaurants with gay employees and patrons could get shut down. Police raids were common.  The police took every opportunity to vent their homophobic rage, beating men and raping women.
 
PUAH pledges to continue working to create a world safe and free from homophobic and transphobic hate and violence.  We are keenly aware that non-binary people are particularly unsafe in this city.
 
On June 19 we commemorate Juneteenth, the date the last US slaves were emancipated in Texas in 1865. In 2020 the Stonewall uprising and Juneteenth reverberate with new intensity. Today, as in 1969, we are rising up and calling out for justice, declaring that police brutality must end, demanding that we dismantle white supremacy and racism. In many cities, including Portland, we rejoice that action is being taken to begin to defund the police.
 
Celebrated since 1980, Juneteenth is known as Black Independence Day by some, and THE Independence Day by others. As Frederick Douglass said on July 5, 1852, “I am not included within the pale of glorious anniversary! Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. The blessings in which you, this day, rejoice, are not enjoyed in common. The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity and independence, bequeathed by your fathers, is shared by you, not by me.”
 
Juneteenth celebrates a true day of freedom.
 
PUAH celebrates and supports the Movement for Black Lives. We pledge to continue working to end police violence, achieve full civil rights, end systemic racism, secure reparations and create a world safe and free from racist hate. 
 
In our unique capacity as Portland’s only anonymous collector of hate data, we will continue to chronicle instances and narratives of police violence against protestors. We are clear that police violence is hate violence.  To date PUAH has over thirty reports. In July we will issue a report of the widespread use of weapons of war against civilians who pose no threat.