Ballot Initiative Strategy Center releases statement recognizing Pride Month and the ongoing fight for equity and justice for all Americans
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
June 3, 2020
PRESS CONTACT:
Will Soltero
[email protected]
Washington, D.C. — Ballot Initiative Strategy Center’s (BISC) Executive Director, Chris Melody Fields Figueredo, issued the following statement today regarding the beginning of Pride Month:
The fight for human rights and justice in the United States is far from new—just as it is far from over. Let us remember that the Stonewall Riot, in June of 1969, was a protest against inhumane treatment by law enforcement led by Black and brown trans and gender non-conforming people. In the same week George Floyd was murdered by police in Minneapolis, Tony McDade, a Black trans man, was shot and killed by police in Florida. At the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center, we see this beginning of Pride Month, alongside the uprisings across the country, as a solemn reminder of the connection between the systemic inequities ingrained in our society.
I am a queer woman of color—all at the same time. This Pride Month as we recognize and stand beside our LGBTQ+ communities, we must also understand the connection between race, class, gender and sexual orientation, all while committing to dismantle EVERY system of oppression that prevents people from living as their full selves. We must lift up the lives of the 12 transgender and gender non-conforming people we know have been fatally shot or killed by other violent means this year, and we must commit to fighting transphobia.
This Pride Month, we stand beside our partners at the LGBTQ+ organizations who all recognize the severity of this moment. This Pride Month, we will continue to support the ballot measures aimed at challenging the oppressive systems that continue to assault LGBTQ+ Americans to this day. This Pride Month, Democracy is our means. This Pride Month, justice is our end.
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The Ballot Initiative Strategy Center is the only progressive organization that works across the many policy, organizing, and political organizations, with local, state, and national players to analyze and support the ballot measure landscape.
No other national organization or network is solely focused on the strategy of running the best ballot measure campaigns or aligning ballot measure campaign efforts across sectors and networks to ensure the most effective use of resources and the greatest impact. BISC supports the campaigns, the state tables, in-state grassroots organizations, and funders alike with important strategic guidance, due diligence and analysis, while training advocates and practitioners in real time – from first time organizers to the most seasoned campaign operatives.