July 2022 Update
ID: “July Monthly Update” www.freedomoklahoma.org/news and the FOK logo. The background is a picture from Pride with a light blue overlay with orange and blue lines and dots
We’re in the business of liberation
As we mark the end of 2SLGBTQIA+ pride month and the start of disability pride month, many folks are beginning to recognize what the most vulnerable members have already known: bodily autonomy is central to liberation and it’s under attack. With so much uncertainty, many of us want to know how Supreme Court decisions and legislative trends might affect us, personally. But this is the time to shift our concern to the collective. We can’t promise it’s going to all be easy or okay. But we can promise you that we’re committed to fighting forward, together. Words that are a balm in these tough times are hard to come by. And so we’re pointing you to remarks from Freedom Oklahoma Executive Director Nicole McAfee to recognize the beginning of Pride Month at OKC Pride Alliance Opening Ceremonies. May they offer you the grounding, hope, and resilience intended as we look together at the work ahead.
From Nicole:
“Often when I speak to someone in news media, they ask the same starting questions. Can you say and spell your name, give your title, and tell us a little bit about Freedom Oklahoma. So I say, Nicole McAfee, N-I-C-O-L-E M-C-Capital A-F-E-E, my pronouns are they and she, and I’m the Executive Director of Freedom Oklahoma, an organization that works to build a future where all 2SLGBTQ+ people in Oklahoma have the safety to thrive through advocacy, education, and power building. Then, the next day, in print I see something like “Nicole McAfee of Freedom Oklahoma, a gay rights organization.” And I cringe. It’s not that I don’t think rights are important. It’s just that rights happen within these systems and are a form of harm reduction. And I don’t think that’s the end goal. For me, trans and queer and Two Spirit liberation is.
Listen, liberation is a weighty word, handed to us by generations of our ancestors who paved the way winning rights, getting closer to being free, and providing a foundation for the fights we’re fighting today. I know we too often try to attribute thoughts and beliefs to those who came before us and so often we just can’t know what they were thinking.
But when Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson put their bodies on the line at Stonewall, I am pretty certain it wasn't for a future where a trans woman could be arrested for work in a survival economy by a cop wearing a pride pin using her correct pronouns. That's rights without liberation.
When Harvey Milk asked us to burst down those closet doors once and for all, I don’t think it was so we could treat political systems and politicians that attack access to best-practice medical care for trans youth and ban 2SLGBTQ+ representation in libraries as legitimate or good faith actors just because some of the members of those political bodies are themselves 2SLBGTQ+. That's rights without liberation.
And when Ernestine Eckstein showed up often as the lone or first Black, queer woman in so many queer advocacy spaces and used platforms to talk about trans inclusion and necessary collaboration with Black liberation movements, I don’t think it was her hope that more than 60 years later we would still be policing gender and gender expression or trying to center individual oppression over collective community response within our own communities. That's rights without liberation.
Pride has radical roots. And sometimes that requires radical joy. Radical action. Radical reconnection to our relatives who did the work before us. Radical connection to a movement, to our communities, to ourselves. Pride is a protest not for rights, but for liberation. A time to join together and use our collective ability to imagine something better, beyond the options typically assigned to us, and then work to make that so. Pride is a time to remember that every time we are fighting one another and not our oppressors, we’re upholding the status quo.
We can’t know exactly the motivations of the icons of our movement, but we can be clear in our own. I do this work, because as a kid I didn’t know bisexuality or pansexuality were even options. I do this work because the first time I told another queer person I thought I was bisexual, I was told that wasn’t legitimate, and that kept me closeted and isolated and unsure for years more. I do this work because of the people who tell me I can’t be nonbinary if I wear femme outfits, and the folks who actively choose not to see me for who I am. And I also do this work to disrupt the systems that reinforce 2SLGBTQ+ spaces as exclusionary, to disrupt the systems that police our bodies, the systems that deny us care and try to deny us joy. I do this work because in Pride month in Oklahoma, there are members of our community thinking about building new cages and subjecting generations of future 2SLGBTQ+ people to policing and imprisonment. I do this work, because as an autistic person, as a queer person, as a nonbinary person, I so often struggle to feel like I belong. But it’s here, in this place, where we’re fighting so hard just to get by, that I’ve found folks who challenge me and hold me and love me as my whole self. I do this work because I want everyone to know that same sense of belonging, without fearing they have to hide any part of who they are. How about you?
It’s a great privilege to be here this evening. It’s an honor to join all of you in proclaiming pride, not rooted in power government leaders try to borrow from us, but in our collective, community power.
I hope in and beyond this pride month, you think about not just our community but our movement and our responsibility in collective liberation. Every time you find yourself asking what about me, I hope you pause and shift that framework to what about us. I hope that you find some joy and safety and grounding in these days ahead, and that when asked what we’re fighting for, you find yourself answering trans and queer and Two Spirit liberation, not just gay rights.”
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Important Links and updates:
Thank you!
Give OUT Day Gratitude
To everyone who donated to and spread the news about our #GiveOUTDay2022 fundraiser: THANK YOU!
Your support directly enables us to empower our community and allies in the fight for lived equality. Thank you for allowing us to be there for those who are counting on us.
Still interested in making a contribution? It's not too late!
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OKC Human Rights Commission
OKC Human Rights Commission
This month, the OKC City Council will vote on whether or not to reestablish a Human Rights Commission. Back in 1996, the Council was abolished because municipal leaders did not want to extend even the possibility of protections to queer Oklahomans.
More than a quarter of a century later, those who oppose re-establishing the council are using the same sets of anti-2SLGBTQ+ talking points. That anyone opposes this body being re-established only further illustrates the need for this body to exist.
There's still time to contact Municipal Leadership ahead of the 7/19 vote!
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Join the Unite Oklahoma Network
Join the Unite Oklahoma Network
We’re working in partnership with Unite Us to easily connect people with health care services, social care services, and community-based organizations that can provide them with the care and support they need. We hope you join us!
If you have an organization ready to join the Unite Oklahoma network, please feel free to submit the Partner Registration Form.
We’re looking for all kinds of organizations, including healthcare providers, schools/colleges, housing shelters, legal offices, and behavioral health providers to join a network of coordinated care.
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2022 Leadership Summit
The e-HERO Project's Survey
The e-HERO Project is a multi-disciplinary collaborative team dedicated to ending the HIV epidemic in rural Oklahoma. They are made up of people from three universities: Purdue University, Oklahoma State University, and Northern Arizona University.
The e-HERO Project is currently recruiting gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men ages 18+ to be a part of their research study.
All participants will be compensated with a $50 gift card for their time!
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join us at the 2022 Leadership Summit
Save the date!
The 2022 Leadership Summit will be held on August 26th! With virtual and in-person options, this year will be our largest and most accessible summit to date.
Mark your calendar and sign up to stay in the loop.
Leadership Summit is an annual event hosted by Freedom Oklahoma for 2SLGBTQ+ young adults and allies to build community across the state while growing their advocacy skills to help realize an Oklahoma where we all have the safety to thrive.
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