Juneteenth, Pride, and Freedom

Every June, Juneteenth and Pride Month arrive together.

They may seem like separate commemorations: one marking the end of slavery in the United States, and the other celebrating LGBTQ+ identity, visibility, and liberation. However, both are rooted in struggles for freedom, dignity, and full participation in American life. And both remind us that rights are never simply granted; they are fought for, defended, and expanded by ordinary people willing to challenge systems that deny our collective humanity.

This year, that lesson feels especially urgent, as we continue to live amidst a mix of hope and despair. I, for one, feel both almost daily... Do you? 

It’s impossible to ignore the political and social realities unfolding around us wherein we are celebrating progress while also witnessing egregious and relentless attacks on our fundamental rights.

Let’s look no further than two Supreme Court decisions issued within the last several months, both of which exemplify the interwoven nature of these struggles:

In November 2025, the Supreme Court declined to hear a petition from Kim Davis, the former Kentucky county clerk who famously refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Davis had asked the Court both to reconsider, and ultimately overturn, its landmark 2015 decision in Obergefell v. Hodges.

The Court declined. As a result, the constitutional right to marriage equality remains intact.

That outcome matters. But it is also worth remembering how that right came to exist in the first place.

The 5–4 ruling in Obergefell relied on the Fourteenth Amendment's Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses to conclude that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry.

The Fourteenth Amendment was created to address the legal inequalities faced by formerly enslaved Black Americans after the Civil War. It established birthright citizenship, overturned the logic of Dred Scott, prohibited states from denying due process, and guaranteed equal protection under the law.

In other words, one of the most significant victories for LGBTQ+ equality in American history was made possible by a constitutional amendment born from the Black struggle for freedom and equality.

That history matters. And makes what happened next even more striking.

In April 2026, the same Court ruled 6–3 to weaken Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. 

Quick history refresher, the Voting Rights Act was designed to make real the protections established by another Reconstruction Amendment - the 15th Amendment.  It was ratified in 1870 and guaranteed that voting rights could not be restricted because of a person's race. However, despite its intent, the South enacted Jim Crow laws to restrict Black Americans from voting, hence the need for the 1965 Voting Rights Act. 

The Court's recent decision fundamentally changed how courts evaluate redistricting challenges, so many protections have been undone, making it dramatically harder for voters of color to challenge congressional maps that dilute their political representation.

In other words, we are witnessing renewed attacks on Black voting rights and ongoing efforts to limit who has power, whose voices count, and who gets to fully participate in our democracy.

For many white folks, this historical moment feels shocking. I often hear disbelief about where our country is socially and politically. I hear questions about whether democracy itself is at risk. And at times I certainly find myself asking some of those same questions.

But when I reflect on history, I am reminded that for Black Americans, none of this is new. None. Of. It.

The fight over voting rights, political representation, citizenship, and equal protection is not a recent development. It is another chapter in a centuries-long fight that stretches from slavery to Reconstruction, from Jim Crow to the Civil Rights Movement, and into the present day.

That doesn't make today's challenges any less alarming. But it does remind us that freedom has never simply arrived on its own.

It has always been demanded. Defended. Expanded. And won through collective action.

The freedoms many LGBTQ+ people experience today are not inevitable. They were hard-fought victories won through decades of organizing, activism, protest, and sacrifice.

And, those victories did not emerge in a vacuum. Rather, they were won in a country whose understanding of equality had already been transformed by generations of Black abolitionists, activists, organizers, and civil rights leaders.

For white LGBTQ+ folks in particular, this is a fundamental truth to acknowledge.

The language of equality. The legal frameworks that protect individual rights. The belief that all people deserve full participation in public life.

These ideas were forged through Black struggle, which is why attempts to divide our communities are so very dangerous by design.

When we fail to recognize our shared history and humanity, we forget that our freedoms are connected. May the irony of this moment not be lost on white LGBTQ+ people. 

Today and always, let the overlap of Juneteenth and Pride invite us to remember that important lesson.

Rights do not sustain themselves. They exist only when people remain committed to defending them.

Progress requires solidarity. Justice is not a single movement's responsibility. And the struggle for freedom is never someone else's struggle.

It belongs to all of us.

P.S. If you're in Vermont, consider supporting one of the many Juneteenth celebrations taking place across the state this week, including events hosted in the Burlington area. Showing up matters.