Bed-Stuy to Celebrate its First Annual Day of Gay Pride

The Audre Lorde Project’s Safe OUTside the System Collective (SOS) wants Bed-Stuy’s LGBT community to feel comfortable being its whole self when its residents walk the streets of their neighborhood.

“Folks want to feel excited about not having to leave their neighborhood to celebrate who they are,” said Chelsea Johnson-Long, Safe OUTside the System Program Coordinator of the Audre Lorde Project. “They want to be able to walk down their own blocks and celebrate who they are on their streets.”

For this reason, they have planned the first, annual Bed-Stuy Pride Day, a celebration of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Two Spirit, Trans and Gender Non-Conforming people of color in Bed-Stuy.

The event will take place this Sunday, August 21, from 12:00pm – 6:00pm at Herbert Von King Park, located at Lafayette and Marcy Avenues.

Bed-Stuy Pride will feature performances by local artists and will include the supportive participation of neighborhood merchants/vendors and civic leaders, including Henry Butler, president of Community Board 3, Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries, City Council member Letitia James and others. 

As an anti-violence, community-based collective, SOS advocates that one of the most effective ways to end violence is to start at home.

Johnson-Long says, in Bed-Stuy, many of its gay residents have complained of harassment on the trains, on their way home and around different gay or lesbians clubs or parties;and there have been complaints of police profiling, particularly of trans women who often get stopped for being sex workers on their own blocks, even if they have I.D. with them.

“The violence our community faces is not just because of our race, sexual identity or gender. When we are attacked, it’s because of multiple identities; our whole bodies feel it,” she said. “That’s why Bed-Stuy Pride is so important. It’s a day to celebrate all of our identities.”

"Bed-Stuy is home to families, friends, workers and everyday survivors. We live, work, laugh and struggle together in our neighborhood,” said Bed-Stuy resident and SOS member, Sherman Jones, Jr. “By looking out for each other's safety and well-being, we become our best allies.”

Bed-Stuy Pride will feature a community art wall where children and other participants can draw pictures depicting how they intervene against violence and also display why they’re proud of living in Bed-Stuy.

Also, there will be a community quilt, traveling art work, and a Kid’s Zone with activities for young people and an opportunity for discussions about how to address hate rhetoric in the classroom, in the street or while hanging out with friends.

“Bed-Stuy Pride 2011 is a chance for us to show our community who we are, Brooklyn style,” said Johnson-Long.

For more information on Bed-Stuy Pride or the Audre Lorde Project, visit the agency’s website.