Front row, left: Author James Baldwin, Front row, 2nd from left, Selma March strategist, Bayard Rustin,Front row, 3rd from left (with hat), A. Philip Randolph (Photo by Stephen F. Somerstein/Getty Images)

In the last few weeks, we’ve witnessed and for some of us, participated in the fight against police brutality with the murders of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Eric Garner, Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Tanisha Anderson, Sandra Bland and countless others.

The Black Lives Matter movement has been re-energized and has taken collective action through protest and demands for policy changes related to police reform and accountability.

While we don’t want to overshadow the issues this country is facing regarding systematic racism and white supremacy, police brutality, and a slow erosion of our democracy itself by the nation’s leader, we should be reminded that the fight against police brutality and toward Black liberation must include Black LGBTQ persons of color.

READ MORE: Remembering my mentor, Black gay activist and community pillar Dr. Ron Simmons

Ron Simmons (Photo: Todd Franson / Courtesy Metro Weekly)

Dr. Simmons passed away this year, but how many of us are aware of the quiet, important work that he’s done in Washington and the country toward the goal of ending the HIV epidemic in the Black community?

The amount of talent and lives we’ve lost from the Black LGBTQ community does not escape me in our efforts to end police brutality and reform policing.

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LGBTQ+ Historical Figures To Know

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