The Climate Crisis is an LGBTQIA+ issue

written by Avli’s members Myrto Skouroupathi and Josef Boraei

PRIDE

If you haven’t already heard, it’s Pride Month! June is established as the Pride month, a month to celebrate and uplift LGBTQIA+* communities. People are coming together in love, friendship, and solidarity to celebrate the wins, mourn the losses, and demand LGBTQIA+ liberation. 

The first Pride was held as an anniversary of the Stonewall Riots. The Stonewall riots were crucial protests in 1969 in the US, that started as a pushback to police brutality and discrimination experienced by queer people. Queer** feminist and activist Brenda Howard – also known as ‘The Mother of Pride’, together with other activists commemorated the Riots with a rally in July 1969 which become what we today know us pride. It is important, then, to remember that the first Pride was a riot. [1]

We, as environmental peace-building activists, have other identities, such as LGBTQIA+ identities that are intertwined with our climate and peace activism. With the climate crisis being the greatest threat to human rights, social justice, and ecosystems we wanted to take the opportunity of the Pride Month to explore why the Climate Crisis is a LGBTQIA+ issue.

CLIMATE DISPROPORTIONATE IMPACTS

Climate crisis is affecting every one of us. However, the impacts of it are not experienced equally. They disproportionately affect those that are already marginalised, either across the divide in Cyprus or across the world – including LBGTQI+ people.  

It affects each person differently based on  biological, social, and cultural parameters such as gender, race, social class, ability, age, sexuality and so on – perceived as norms. 

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), it is clear that the people who are already most vulnerable and marginalised will experience the greatest impacts of climate change. [2,3]

Marginalised people have higher chances to live in areas at most risk of climate change, and way less chances to access resources or ability to relocate. It is also crystal clear that in times of crisis (i.e. economical, political, social, climate, health), the most marginalised are the first to be impacted. LGBTQI+ people across the world are more likely to experience homelessness, lack of financial resources and support structures. In case of conflict and (climate) disasters, marginalised people are less mobile and receive less support. This is especially true for Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour (BIPoC) LGBTQI+ people. 

An example is Hurricane Katrina, during which trans people faced discrimination in emergency shelters, with some turned away, while the black gay community has yet to fully recover [4,5]. This can also apply in the case of Cyprus, where the right to change one’s legal gender is non-existence in the southern part [6] of the island, while in the northern it’s only possible with full gender reassignment surgery [7], which means that trans people are limited in their movement and the services they are able to receive in case of a crisis.

THE ROOTS OF INTERLINKED OPPRESSIONS 

Climate justice teaches us that the roots of the climate crisis are strongly connected with multiple oppressions. Several forms of power and systematic oppression interact on multiple and often simultaneous levels, through institutions such as racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, xenophobia, classism, ageism and others. Therefore, the climate crisis and other environmental and social struggles, are the results of capitalism, colonialism, racism, patriarchy, neoliberalism, and neocolonialism among others. [8] 

We recognise that these oppressive structures have brought us to the exploitation of the people and the planet, for human rights and environmental degradation respectively. 

This has been a struggle and a threat for the queer community and therefore queer liberation for a long time, that unfortunately pushes down the beauty of diversity. It is a danger for gender and sexual identities as much as it is for the planet, biodiversity, and natural heritage on the altar of money and profit. [9]

We strongly believe that there is one struggle and one fight. Thus, fighting against the oppressive systems of capitalism, colonialism, racism, sexism, neoliberalism and neocolonialism, is crucial to fight both the climate crisis and for queer liberation. 

QUEERS EXPERIENCE IN THE CLIMATE JUSTICE MOVEMENT IS BENEFICIAL 

The climate justice movement can also benefit from the contribution of the LGBTQI+ community while fighting against the climate crisis. By looking at the history of LGBTQI+ communities across the globe and the fights given against common oppressive systems, it shows how much experience we can offer on skills sharing, survival, practices of resistance and resilience. It hasn’t been an easy struggle for LGBTQI+ community, but we know how to struggle, how to organise, how to demonstrate and how to win. The queer community knows very well how a community of love and care looks like, and also how concrete solidarity should be. 

Great examples of recognition of struggles and concrete solidarity by the LGBTQI+ community towards other communities are the “Lesbians and Gays support the Miners” [10] and “Lesbians and Gays support the Migrants”. [11]

Another example are the “disable and trans people of colour, who have a lot to teach us on how to deal with climate catastrophe and as they say ‘welcome to our world’. Even in the moments when we’re in pain, when we’re uncomfortable, when the task ahead feels overwhelming, and we feel defeated by the sheer scope of everything that’s wrong in the world, we don’t have to give up on life or on humanity. Queer and trans disabled people know that, because that’s how we live. At this moment of climate chaos, we’re saying: Welcome to our world. We have some things to teach you if you’ll listen, so that we can all survive.” [12] 

Queer communities are already providing support on survival skills, spaces to host people in times of crisis, and even mobilise their communities to fight against the climate crisis. The legacy of LGBTQIA+ people is so rich with experience on activism, resistance, campaigns which can be shared, used and strengthened when fighting for climate justice. We, as queer people, are already part of the fight.

QUEER LIBERATION and CLIMATE JUSTICE go hand in hand.

Finally, we would like to conclude that Avli members are standing for a truly intersectional movement fighting for collective liberation and justice. 

There is no climate justice without queer liberation, and there is no queer liberation without climate justice. The fight against the climate crisis and queer oppression are strongly linked and its roots are the same oppressive systems. We do not stand for neither a queer-exclusive climate movement nor for a capitalist “rainbow washed” pride. We stand together, united against all kinds of oppression.

*LGBTQIA+ stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, intersex, asexual. The + is an inclusive symbol to mean ‘and others’ to include people of all identities.

**Queer is a reclaimed slur which some but not all people in the LGBTQIA+ community use.

INVITATION TO JOINS US IN THE CLIMATE JUSTICE BLOC led by Avli

On Saturday, 18 June 2022, LGBTQI+ people from all around Cyprus and beyond are gathering and marching for their rights, in Nicosia. 

For the first time in Cyprus, LGBTQIA+ organisations and communities across the island are coming together and joining forces for an intercommunal, self-organised, self-funded, grassroots Pride with the slogan “United by Pride”.

Co-hosts: Queer Collective Cy, Queer Cyprus Association, LGBT PILIPINAS, LGBT Africa and the LGBTQIA+ & Allies Students Club of the University of Cyprus.

Avli, as an initiative working on environmental peace building also recognises the multidimensional form of the climate crisis, thus we are launching an open call to all environmental and climate organisations and initiatives across the island to support the upcoming march ‘United by Pride’.

As we have explained,  there is no Climate Justice without Social Justice and Queer liberation. Therefore, we would like to invite you to support and participate within the climate justice bloc of the march on June 18, 2022 at 18:00. Our main message will be ‘No pride on a dead planet – Save Akamas’. The climate justice bloc also aims to offer space for anyone who identifies as queer but is not able to participate in the march as an individual in fear of discrimination. Anyone is welcome to join us!

Author/Συντάκτης/Yazar: Myrto Skouroupathi, Josef Boraei
Çevirmenler/Μεταφραστές/Translators: N/A
Συντάκτες/Editors/Editörler: Myrto Skouroupathi, Nikolas Michael