We cannot achieve LGBTQ acceptance if we don't #MarchForOurLives


Hundreds of thousands of people will gather around the country this Saturday at the March For Our Lives in solidarity with all those impacted by gun violence. March For Our Lives is one part of the student-led, intersectional “Never Again” movement, shaping the culture into one in which everyone can live safely. GLAAD stands with “Never Again,” March For Our Lives, and the Marjory Stoneman Douglas students mobilizing this life-saving effort.

Gun violence disproportionately impacts people of color, LGBTQ peoples, immigrants, women, folks living at the intersections of these identities, and other marginalized communities. Without implementing policies nationwide to prevent gun violence, we will achieve neither full LGBTQ acceptance nor collective liberation.

One face of this vital movement is Emma Gonzalez, a bisexual Cuban senior at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where 17 students and faculty were murdered on Valentine’s Day. Into’s Trish Bendix wrote of Emma:

Her being a brown bald bisexual woman is not a deficit, as some might decide–instead, an incredible talisman that seems to indicate the kind of power those of us deemed powerless truly have. That despite the Trumps of the world telling minorities how worthless we are, over and over again; that QPOCs and women are not even low priority but instead targets, we will not recoil while sheepishly raising white flags.

When Emma was awarded at the 2018 Equality Florida Miami Gala earlier this month, she told the crowd, “I am a bisexual Cuban. We are people of different genders, skin colors, stories. We are members of the GSA at Marjory Stoneman Douglas in Parkland, Florida, and tonight, we are all MSD strong.”

 

GLAAD’s Together movement, represented by the “&” symbol, stands for the power of our voices together to accelerate acceptance for all. It is a call for vulnerable communities to explore their intersecting identities and work together to create a more inclusive culture. In this spirit and in dedication to this ethos, GLAAD is calling for its followers to show support for March For Our Lives events, more than 800 of which will take place on March 24.

Here are 8 ways you can get involved:

  1. Locate and attend the nearest March For Our Lives event on Saturday, March 24
  2. Use the "&" Facebook frame this weekend to stand with all who march
  3. Take the Together pledge to stand in solidarity with intersectional, vulnerable communities to achieve collective liberation
  4. Wear the “&” pin to spread the word and make your role in the Together movement known
  5. Sign the March For Our Lives petition calling for legislation to save children from gun violence
  6. Get the  March For Our Lives app to stay up to date on
  7. Register to vote in order to amplify your voice on preventing gun violence against the most vulnerable among us
  8. Post on social media using #MarchForOurLives and #IWillMarch all weekend to show the world why this movement matters to you

Learn more about Together at glaad.org/together.