Photo credit: Luke Olson
My LGBTQ POV is proudly sponsored by Dr. Stephanie Murphy, DDS. Dr. Murphy's practice philosophy is to treat her patients the way she would want members of her family to be treated. She looks forward to taking care of you and your smile. Read past columns here.
Pride 2020 seemed destined to be a subdued affair. With major events canceled by the COVID-19 pandemic, it seemed Pride weekend would come and go with only virtual DJs and drag shows. But we were also in the fevered convulsion of the racism that has rent the nation of late. The latest atrocity of that other pandemic, the nonchalant extra-judicial execution by asphyxiation of George Floyd, an African American man, by a white Minneapolis police officer, ignited coast to coast protests.
Here in Milwaukee they had already raged for a week. Of all the searing images we saw in those days, that of 64-year old Shorewood attorney Stephanie Rapkin spitting in the face of a 17-year old black youth epitomized our city’s deeply rooted failings.
But LGBTQ community activist Broderick Pearson, better known as Montell Ross of the local drag entertainment scene, wasn’t having it. Perhaps as a person of color himself, his sensitivity honed by countless micro-aggressions, blatant racism and homophobia, he responded with action as a leader should.
Support for Black Lives Matter
Ross went on social media and suggested an inclusive “queer, gay, trans” protest demonstration in support of Black Lives Matter. That was at 5:12 p.m. on Thursday, June 4. His actual call for the March with Pride came less than 90 minutes later at 6:38 p.m. Within hours he was inundated with offers of help and supplies. Now assisted by Kat Klawes and Angel Vega, he mastered logistics, assembled a volunteer support team including a police liaison, security marshals and medical personnel, stocked water, snacks and first-aid supplies, face masks, walkie-talkies and had issued a Google map of the march route.
Barely 72 hours after the initial online launch, at 1 p.m. on Sunday, June 7, Ross stood atop a van as a makeshift podium speaking to a crowd of thousands at Henry Maier Festival Park’s main admission gate, the march step-off point. Other speakers followed: Chris Walton, Chair of the Milwaukee Democratic Party and candidate for Milwaukee State Assembly District 17; Elle Halo, trans activist and Diverse & Resilient board member; and Lex Allen, singer/songwriter and LGBTQ activist. Other high-profile personalities had hopped on the band wagon as well.
Marchers stepped off, chanted and carried signs of all manner including a poignantly familiar one of the HIV/AIDS pandemic days, “Silence = Death” from the Act-Up movement that is today as applicable to the struggle for social justice as it was back then.
The March with Pride paused for a moment in the heart of the gayborhood for additional speeches and, in memoriam for the murdered George Floyd, thousands knelt in a nine-minute tribute of silence.
Were it not for Ross’ courageous leadership, Milwaukee’s LGBTQ community would not have had a much of a Pride this year. But, fortunately, in the true spirit of the Stonewall Riots (coincidently also lead by a person of color from the drag community) and of Milwaukee’s earliest Pride marches and rallies, Ross inspired us to rise up and take a political stand. In fact, we can now bask in that post-Pride weekend afterglow as we otherwise would. But rather than with memories marked with glitter bits and burnt out glow sticks, we can look back at Pride 2020 as a historic moment of Milwaukee’s LGBTQ solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement in the name of our common struggle for equality and social justice.
Hopefully, this individual’s actions will reawaken us to continued political activism in the true tradition of Pride. Thank you, Montell Ross!
My LGBTQ POV is proudly sponsored by Dr. Stephanie Murphy, DDS. Read past columns here.
