Yesterday, our friends held the second annual Trans Pride Fest in Denton. Hundreds of LGBTQ folks, including us, were able to gather and hold space together in joyous peace.
There is a shortage of peace in this world as the few who mean to exert their power over us work diligently to rob us of our joy. Living in North Texas where Black trans women are murdered at a disproportionately high rate, and with continued attacks on the autonomy to live free as we are, there has never been a more important time to stand up and fight back. It is imperitive that we stand united to defend these loving spaces together, as one.
We were invited as a group by the supporting organizations of the event to provide medical support, defend the area from bad intentions, and conduct ourselves in a manner that ensured all those attending would be able to gather without worry. In doing so, we assisted folks with a small number of minor injuries, secured the area, and received an outpouring of supportive thanks and love from those attending.
At the conclusion of the evening, we were forced to make the decision to pull out of the event. Inviting a “gun club” to a bar presents numerous obstacles. We overcame those obstacles in a way that could not be challenged legally, or ethically, drawing strict lines of where “51%” notices were binding and conducting ourselves in a way that would not invite state violence onto a group of marginalized people. Throughout the evening and after the rantings of one concerned citizen, the support and consent of the venue slowly diminished until the blatancy of being unwelcome was impossible to ignore. Even on departure the concerned citizen (a cis-gendered woman) filmed, threatened, and harassed us. That’s another story for another day.
Stats from distribution:
- 20 Narcan distributed/instructions taught
- One mosh-related injury treated
- One minor head injury treated
- One possible spiked drink
All person’s involved are safe and okay.
At the end of the day, the only important thing is that Trans Pride Fest concluded in a joyous roar. The sting of a person making us, a group of predominantly queer & trans folks feel unwelcome, evaporates when we remember the joy and happiness that filled those walls into the night. All of our love goes out to the wonderful community organizers who worked their asses off for months to put this whole thing together. Y’all the real ones ❤️
In solidarity,
Elm Fork John Brown Gun club