- Welcome back to the show.
It's Pride Month, and the Trump administration
is celebrating by ordering American embassies
to take down the Pride flag for the first time since 2011.
That is idiotic.
If you're going to cancel something from 2011,
make it rompers.
It's no wonder many have forgotten
the origins of Pride Month.
Fortunately, Patti Harrison teams up with "Full Frontal"
to remind us.
PATTI HARRISON: Honey, it's Pride,
that one month every calendar year when we celebrate
queer people's right to exist.
So I went to the legendary Stonewall Inn
to meet with Lala Zannell, the Trans Justice
Campaign Manager at the ACLU.
She was going to tell me all about the history of Pride,
which was started by United Airlines,
Citigroup, Postmates, Tesla--
No.
It started out with trans women of color.
PATTI HARRISON: But what about YouTube,
Android, the Trump campaign--
Stop it.
That's a whole bunch of corporations--
You said "corporations" like it's a bad thing.
It is a bad thing, Patti.
I don't see black trans women--
I don't even see a lot of non-binary trans folks
in Pride.
OK, hypothetical situation.
OK.
You get a phone call.
Hi, it's me, Taco Bell, and I am coming out as non-binary.
Would you not show Taco Bell, in that moment, love and support?
Oh, Patti.
PATTI HARRISON: Turns out 50 years ago
when being openly queer was illegal in most of the country,
people came to places like this because it
was one of the few spaces where they felt safe.
But Stonewall would often get raided
by the police, who would harass and arrest
patrons with no warning.
One night, the queer family at Stonewall got fed up
and fought back.
Activists like Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera
started throwing shot glasses, rocks, and bricks,
and in doing so, they began the modern LGBTQ rights movement,
which brought us Pride.
It was a liberation birthed by black trans women, non-binary
people, folks of color.
It was a riot.
Like this.
Oh my god.
I mean--
[INAUDIBLE] he was-- he was probably there.
Chucky over here, you know, queer
canon, one of our queer icons.
You got it wrong.
PATTI HARRISON: I usually hate history lessons,
but something about the riot was inspiring me to throw a brick.
No, we're not doing that.
Ugh, fine.
But why wasn't Marsha and Sylvia's story part
of our modern Pride celebration, when
the organization that terrorized them gets a marching band?
It's because history has been erased.
Trans women fought back to liberate the larger LGBT
movement, but after the Stonewall riots,
it became about money.
No, no, no, no, no, no.
No way Dr. Pepper would let that happen,
because Dr. Pepper wants you to be brave, be Dr. Pepper.
No.
It's not just about you showing up as a corporation.
You have to leverage your resources,
leverage your connections to give back to the community.
PATTI HARRISON: She's right.
It's great that these big corporations seem
to want to support the movement, but we can't depend
on them to fight for the most marginalized
folks in the community.
You make Pride better first when the community
acknowledges their faults.
The fault of years and years of not centering black trans
women, non-binary folks, folks who are just disabled,
low income, undocumented.
We're going to tell the truth about our history
and appreciate all the historic milestones
that trans and non-binary folks have
done for the pride movement.
PATTI HARRISON: Yes, and I knew exactly how to help.
You have two of them?
No, no, no, we're not going to do that.
PATTI HARRISON: Huh.
Then I guess I need to find a way to help that isn't brick.
So I decided to throw a party to celebrate
the true meaning of pride with tributes to queer icons.
Oh my gosh, she's so pretty.
Healthy snacks, party favors.
I even made my very own Pride float
featuring two completely original,
mystery solving dog cousins engaging
in a censored sexual act.
What is that?
Did you listen to anything I told you?
This is not what I told you Pride was about.
You think on the 50th anniversary of Stonewall,
that people aren't going to be excited to see
Scribby Dong and Squirpy having [BLEEP] on [BLEEP] and [BLEEP]??
No, this is not it, Patti.
PATTI HARRISON: OK.
Maybe I was still a little confused about our history.
So Lala had me talk to a trans woman who lived it.
You were a witness to the Stonewall riots?
Yes, I was.
During that period we were illegal,
so I had two sets of ID, one under Judy,
and one under my other name.
Right, you had to pass in order to operate
in society in a safe way.
Yes.
If you didn't pass or if you were of color,
you were in more danger.
Every day you would find somebody
had gotten murdered in the streets.
It's still going on today.
PATTI HARRISON: It's true.
Members of our community face violence every day.
Trans women of color are being killed across the country.
And that's on top of the constant attacks
against, us from our bathrooms, to our military,
to our housing, to our health care,
to our literal right to exist.
In a world like this one, should Pride be a celebration?
A protest?
We can have both at the same time.
If you remember that we came from a place of rebellion,
it will help you move forward in your everyday life
to continue that liberation, all while looking
fabulous and celebrating.
Celebrate with a purpose.
Right.
So instead of throwing a brick at someone
you hate, throw a brick at someone you love.
No. Remember, we talked about this.
PATTI HARRISON: Lala was right.
The true meaning of Pride is that it's a chance
to recognize how far we've come and how
far we still have to go.
So I teamed up with the Phluid Project, a gender
free retail store, to design a t-shirt
to raise money for the Transgender Legal Defense
and Education Fund, and remind everyone
that we still have a lot more bricks left to throw.
Thank you so much, Patti.
Everybody in our audience is wearing one right now.
[APPLAUSE]