HAPPY PRIDE MONTH 2021! From the CAC Fam!

For the month of June, CAC is collecting donations for the Marsha P Johnson Institute and if you want to contribute please come stop by the store and either: add a donation at the end of your transaction, drop some change into the donation jar OR buy a CAC Pride T-Shirt for $15 dollars! 100% of the proceeds are going to the Marsha P Johnson Institute.

With complete transparency, we were going to be donating to Boston Pride but found out from a few verifiable sources that Boston Pride was being boycotted for not being inclusive to trans people of color. Immediately our Community Outreach Director made a move to inform Boston Pride of the change and spread awareness to our team and community that we stand with trans people of color. We appreciate the love and support of our community, patients, and fellow employees. We are all in this together and we stand in solidarity.

For all the LGBTQIA+ people in our community, thank you. Thank you for being you and being proud. And to those who fear being out, we love and support you too. It is your life and your identity, we are proud of you and hope for the best for you. Continue to be strong!

The “Progress Flag”

Alright, let's break this down, because there are some important additions to the NHS’s Pride Flag that mean even more after the year everyone has had. The flag in the photo above was designed by Daniel Quasar in 2018. It features black and brown stripes to represent people of color, and baby blue, pink and white to include the trans flag in its design. Why?

This a very strategic move that emphasizes the intersections of discrimination within the LGBTQIA+ community and highlights those who started Pride. This modern progressive version of the pride flag is making way for different gender identities and BIPOC to express themselves more freely and spread awareness that they are the pioneers of the gay rights movement. But this doesn’t mean the stigma of these two demographics aren’t gone, nor is the discrimination of the LGBTQIA+ community as a whole. It is ingrained in our culture. QTBIPoC activists inspired the very first Pride, Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera will go down in history. They were two trans women of color who started the Stonewall Uprising/Riots and rallied to end discrimination and hate crime for the LGBTQIA+ community. These additions have a very deep and meaningful connection to the LGBTQIA+ community and deserve their place on the flag

The many protests for Black Lives Matter (an organization whose mission is to eradicate white supremacy and build local power to intervene in violence inflicted on Black communities) which the LGBTQIA+ community flocked to in support of during the George Floyd protests, even though their events were canceled, creating a solid force for acceptance and cooperation. In a world filled with many forms of discrimination and hate, we cannot choose one over the other. One person’s experience is not the same as the next but should be the basis of celebration and compassion and not disassociation between historically marginalized groups.

Like we mentioned in last year's blog, Black Lives Matter fosters a queer-affirming network. They are actively educating people on the intersection of discrimination. Intersectionality is a term coined by Kimberly Crenshaw, a Black female lawyer, author, scholar, and civil rights activist. Intersectionality means that there can be multiple levels of discrimination and that one person can go through at any given time. Kimberly first conceived this term to articulate the experience of a black woman, who not only experiences the discrimination of a black person nor JUST the experience of being a woman but is experiencing her form of prejudice that is exponentially greater due to the convergence of her identities. The same concept goes for QTBIPoC.

We discussed this in last year’s blog post for pride, when we brought up Toyin Salaudead’s untimely death. It is a very heartbreaking story and if you want to know more please read last year's post. BUT this is not the only instance of this sort of hate crime toward the QTBIPoC community. In 2020, there were 44 known deaths to gender non-conforming people, most of which were Black and Latinx persons. Read this article to learn the names and stories of these people who lost their lives tragically: Fatal Violence Against the Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming Community in 2020

This is all-important when celebrating pride and is the reasoning behind the Progress Pride Flag. Being open about being a part of the LGBTQIA+ community is a very authentic way to live your life but it isn’t always safe for some people.

We will leave off this section with, if someone is not hurting others or themselves and is a consenting human adult, it is a valid and healthy way to live. Don’t attempt to dim someone's shine just because you don’t agree. Also, pride exists solely because people don’t agree and/or cause harm to this community, no groups are actively seeking out to destroy heterosexuality.

Cannabis Industry and LGBTQIA+

Cannabis has strong roots in the LGBTQIA+ community because it helps with the many illnesses and disorders that exist in the community; HIV/AIDS, PTSD, addiction, anxiety and depression, body dysphoria, etc. It is so valuable to emphasize especially because almost a third of LGBTQIA+ adults (30.7%) reported using marijuana in the past year, compared to 12.9 percent of heterosexual adults.

Cannabis and LGBTQIA+, especially QTBIPoC, rights are at just another intersection of the discrimination. Particularly, relevant in southern states, more than 60% of all Black queer men diagnosed with HIV nationally reside, according to 2014 data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, where recreational cannabis use remains largely illegal and medical use is legal in roughly half the region.

Last year we spoke about Dennis Peron, who is widely regarded as the father of the medical marijuana movement, and Mary Jane Rathbun, an ally to the LGBTQ community, who quickly became known as “Brownie Mary”.

Peron became an activist after his partner Jonathon West passed from HIV/AIDS. Cannabis helped his partner with the symptoms that “Wasting Syndrome” was causing. Peron founded the “Dallas Buyers Club.” and co-wrote a passage of the Compassionate Use Act of 1996 in California. Mary secretly distributed pot brownies to patients as a hospital volunteer for the Shanti Project, the first organization to offer medical services to AIDS patients.

Another advocate for cannabis and the LGBTQIA+ community was Paul Scott who advocated in San Francisco for medical cannabis. In Inglewood, Scott started the first medical marijuana facility, helping patients cope with their terminal illnesses through cannabis and support groups

Queer individuals’ have historically been advocating for cannabis rights at a much higher rate than cisgender straight people, yet they have higher rates of depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of this oppression and repression. You don’t quite see a lot of queer leaders in the cannabis industry though. Why?

Disenfranchised communities (i.e. LGBTQIA+, BIPoC, Women, Veterans, Disabled, etc.) tend to not have the capital to start a business in the industry due to the inequity, or barriers, placed on these communities. In MA, the Cannabis Control Commission’s cannabis regulations (935 CMR), both Medical Use (501.000) and Adult-Use (500.000), also emphasize the need for Cannabis Establishments to be more diverse, equitable, and inclusive in general. The inclusiveness that MA is trying to achieve is all due to the amazing advocates that are constantly defending the rights of disenfranchised groups in MA cannabis.

If you are a part of or identify with a historically marginalized group due to cannabis prohibition and are interested in the cannabis industry, here’s a bit of advice. Do some research on your state's regulations (if it is legal) and find the people who are already in the industry doing what you aspire to do. This goes for any industry or any passion but it will help you pair with people of like mind.

Good luck and never stop learning!

Stay safe and healthy and enjoy this beautiful summer!