Ohio Black Pride 4 (Pt 2) & 1970s Lesbian/Gay Political Prisoners (Pt 1)

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Published: 05 July 2021

Listen to Part 2 of our interview about the Ohio Black Pride 4 produced by Black Trans Media for OUTFM with Wriply Bennet, a Black Trans Woman artist, organizer, and one of the Ohio Black Pride 4; a group of 4 Black Queer and Trans people who were arrested at Columbus (Ohio) Pride in 2017 for blocking the march to address racism and transphobia. In Part 1 Wriply spoke with producer Sasha Alexander about the tension within the community that led up to Pride, including the violence against Black people like Philando Castile. a young cis Black man killed by the police, which in part sparked the action she and others took at Pride that year. Here in Part 2, Wriply talks more about her arrest, the case, and what it was like that day at Pride being criminalized and arrested as a Black Trans Woman. We discuss what she learned and her vision for the future of Pride and beyond. 

                                                 Author Josephine Donovan

1970s Lesbian/Gay Political Prisoners (Pt 1)​

In another episode of our Queerly Defiant series, Out-FM producers Naomi Brussel and Bob Lederer interviewed Professor Josephine Donovan, author of the book The Lexington Six, about two major legal cases in the 1970s that set the standard for lesbian and gay resistance to U.S. government abuse of the grand jury system as part of the FBI’s attempt to find and imprison lesbian fighters who militantly opposed the U.S. war on the people of Indochina. Those cases targeted two hubs of progressive lesbian-feminism at that time. 7 lesbians and a gay man in Lexington, KY and New Haven, CT refused to testify and served jail time ranging from one month to 15 months. Their cases became a cause celebre in the lesbian-feminist community nationwide, with support committees and projects forming in various locations. In this segment we will draw out lessons for queers – and all progressive people – in opposing repression today.

This is Part 1 of a two-part series on lesbian/gay political prisoners in the 1970s. For Part 2, click here. 

NYC Queer Liberation March 2021; & Ohio Black Pride 4

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Published: 29 June 2021

NYC Queer Liberation March 2021

More than 50,000 were estimated to have marched in Sunday June 27th's 3rd Annual Queer Liberation March, most were masked. The march has displaced the one organized for many years by Heritage of Pride, or HOP for short. Much of the energy for organizing and participating in the march arose in opposition to the intense commercialization of the HOP organized march as well as their welcoming of armed LGBT police in contingents, as well as their role in providing "security" for the Parade. HOP's dispacement as the biggest organizer of mass in person events has risen as a result of the COVID-19 epidemic and HOP decided not to march for the last 2 years. John Riley recorded interviews of some contingents participating as well as some archival sound from the first Queer Liberation March in 2019.

Ohio Black Pride 4

In this special 20 minute 2 part interview recorded Sunday June 27th 2021 as part of our Queerly Defiant series listen to the story of the Ohio Black Pride 4 as told by Wriply Bennet, one of the Black Pride 4. She speaks on the criminalization and arrest she faced at Columbus Pride in 2017 and on the intersections of growing up as a young, black, queer, and trans women in the midwest. She details the violence, racism, and transphobia that led up to the action to disrupt pride and her arrest. Stay tuned for part 2 where she shares more about what happened in her case, what she learned, and her visions for our futures. This interview was produced by Sasha Alexander of Black Trans Media with support from producer Takoda Patterson and the OUTFM Collective.