June is already a special time for LGBTQ+ people, but for Black people in the community, the month holds even more significance when Juneteenth (also known as Freedom Day) is celebrated. (Here’s a historical note: Despite President Abraham Lincoln issuing the Emancipation Proclamation on Jan. 1, 1863, the end of slavery did not take place in Texas until two and a half years later—on June 19, 1865—when Union Major General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston and issued General Order No. 3. This is why Juneteenth is largely celebrated on June 19.)
Black queer people have always been at the forefront of both the broader civil-rights movement as well as the LGBTQ+ rights movement. For example, trans pioneer Marsha P. Johnson was a pivotal figure during the Stonewall Riots while Bayard Rustin (who has been celebrated in film) was a Black, openly gay activist who advised Martin Luther King Jr. He was the principal organizer of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963.
When considering the importance of Juneteenth, Equality Illinois President Channyn Lynne Parker, a Black trans woman, cited Langston Hughes’ “A Dream Deferred” (also known as “Harlem”) before saying, “Freedom on paper isn’t [the same as] freedom in your body.”
Parker added that June being both Pride Month and Juneteenth is doubly significant for Black queer individuals: “In my opinion, they are not two holidays sharing a calendar. Freedom is a question that’s asked twice—especially [regarding] those intersections of our race and our identities and all of the generational things that we hold within our lineage and our bodies.
“Now, I think, for trans people, that there’s even more significance, as there’s transphobia within and outside of the queer community.”
Northwestern University Dean of the School of Communication and Annenberg University Professor E. Patrick Johnson stated that, to him, Juneteenth signifies “joy and celebration, which is what the current holiday has turned into for many African Americans and non-African Americans.
Johnson, a Black gay man, also reflected on identities and intersection, saying, “I don’t believe in compartmentalizing my identities; they’re all intertwined. But certain aspects of my identity—like my cis gender identity—come with privilege. And I am constantly trying to dismantle my privilege, which is very difficult.
“This struggle is for everyone’s freedom. So if I’m in the presence of men who are misogynists and I don’t say anything about it, then I’m complicit. I’m not dismantling patriarchy. So when it comes to holidays like Juneteenth, [it’s about] what that moment in history means for me as a queer person as it does for me being a Black person.”
Johnson further stated that, as his identities are intertwined, the observances of Pride Month and Juneteenth should be as well—particularly, for people with multiple identities: “I don’t parse out my Blackness, my queerness, my Southern-ness or being middle-class; you get it all. They’re all parts of me.
“I would go so far as to say there should be a Juneteenth float in the Chicago Pride Parade. Queer people have always been a part of the Black community—and they should be celebrated during Black History Month as well.”
Interestingly, even though Juneteenth celebrates nationwide freedom for Black people, many have only recently learned about it.
Johnson and Parker are exceptions. “I have known about it since college,” stated Johnson, who also said he believes June is Black Music Month (because of how the art form has been central to Black people’s history). “I didn’t grow up knowing about it, which is interesting because I grew up in a neighborhood where Black history was really important and sort of drilled into us.”
Parker said, “I always knew about Juneteenth. I was taught; my family are unspoken genealogists.”
In reflecting on history, Parker agreed with Johnson about the movement for equity, saying, “Stonewall started a fight—and that fight is still [happening]. There are still Black people who are still being oppressed by thoughts, presets, ideas, outdated stereotypes and beliefs that are being perpetuated and causing harm—and, for Black trans people, there are even more.
“We need to begin to ask ourselves a very critical question: Do we really want emancipation, or do we want our turn to hold the whip? Sometimes those things get conflated. When you have lived in a system of [oppression], you don’t really know how to reimagine yourself any other way.”
Despite slavery’s emancipation happening 160 years ago, Juneteenth just became a federal holiday in 2021—a few years before President Trump took office for a second time and implemented strict anti-DEI measures.
Johnson admitted that Trump’s actions have him feeling negative about the future of Juneteenth.
“He may sign an executive order tomorrow, declaring that there is no such thing because it’s too bruising for [some] white people to hear about how horrible they’ve been to us,” Johnson said. “I’m not even fearful; I’m [just] anticipating [Juneteenth being erased] because it’ll be considered DEI in [the presidential administration’s] twisted logic. This administration has tried to silence people, whether it’s through the African-American Museum of History and Culture or taking down the Stonewall sign in New York [that has since been re-installed].”
However, Parker had a mixed reaction about the possibility of Trump’s measures diluting the significance of Juneteenth. While conceding the legal impact of the policies—such as some agencies no longer holding Juneteenth-related activities—Parker said she has been taking Juneteenth off for years before its federal recognition. “I didn’t need a corporation [to grant me permission] or a legal holiday for me to know that that was the last gasp of slavery. So I always commemorate that by recognizing that my rest is an act of defiance.”
