Accolades and admonishment. I’ve gotten both for dipping my toes in the political waters that we are now navigating two weeks into the new administration.
We take seriously our charge to be a voice for the LGBTQ+ communities that we serve both here in the pages of Gay Desert Guide and on our public airwaves. While KGAY makes listeners feel good with dance hits, it would be akin to Nero fiddling as Rome burned if we didn’t acknowledge and push back against the s**t show that we’re witnessing.
Silence = Death was a slogan I remember seeing throughout the AIDS crisis as a closeted kid in the Midwest. It was created in 1985; ACT-UP adopted the slogan and the poster in 1987. It resonates today:
*The pink triangle on the poster was a reference to the Nazi persecution of LGBTQ people.
*The poster was a call to action, as the group believed that silence and self-reliance would not stop AIDS deaths.
*The poster’s tagline referenced the deafening silence of the public and government, and the need for discussion, education, and action.
Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde spoke words of truth-to- power in a modern-day ACT-UP moment and was severely criticized by the President. But our community will not be silent 40 years on from the AIDS crisis. While we lost a generation of activists, there are many who remember and carry on. They teach a new generation of that dark time in our history, and draw parallels to modern day whitewashing of DEI, our transgender community and marriage equality.
So if you’re only interested in our weekly guide to events and the good times contained in my weekly blog or newsletter, you can simply skip this intro and scroll down. But we won’t be silenced at the injustices that are coming our way on a daily basis.
