LGBTQ community joins Black Lives Matter for march in Lexington

Joined by members of Lexington’s LGBTQ community, Black Lives Matter protesters marched downtown through the rain on Saturday to demonstrate against police brutality and systemic racism. The protest coincided with the five-year anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized gay marriage in the United States.

Molly Dunn, who participated with her partner, Liz Rhodes, said she was there to support Black members of the Lexington community.

“The gay community wouldn’t have what we have here without Black people,” Dunn said. “We need to be here to show up for them.”

Tiffany Cooper, a hairdresser from Lexington, said she has been participating in Lexington protests for the past three weeks.

“I think that if we stay at home we’re never going to make any changes,” Cooper said.

Saturday’s demonstration began at the Robert F. Stephens Courthouse Plaza. From there, the group marched through the downtown chanting their support of justice for the death of Breonna Taylor in Louisville.

Sarah Williams, who has helped lead past protests in Lexington, said her group was compelled to join with the LGBTQ community because of the ongoing struggle for LGBTQ rights, particularly for Blacks.

“There’s a lot of things as of late that have benefited the LGBTQ community, but largely white LGBTQ people, because Black LGBTQ are still dealing with high rates of death at the hands of the police,” Williams said.

WIlliams said the messages of Black Lives Matter and the LGBTQ community are “deeply connected” since the Stonewall protests were started by Black members of the LGBTQ community.

“It’s very deeply connected in ways that don’t really shift the message,” Williams said. “It just brings more solidarity.”

Additionally, protesters called for the firing of Donovan Stewart, the chaplain of the Lexington Police Department who was accused in a lawsuit of attacking a Black autistic child at Fayette Mall in Lexington.

“[Stewart] had to be pulled of [of the child] by bystanders,” Jay Calhoun, a demonstrator, alleged. “They had to pull him off twice and absolutely nothing has been done about that.”

During the march, protesters stopped at the Lexington police station.

“You see this unity that’s out here right now,” Calhoun said. “[The police] have no choice but to acknowledge that there is a problem.”

Erin Carmody, who also took part in the demonstration, said that while she is not a member of the LGBTQ community herself, she felt compelled to march because she has friends that are.

“It’s important to me that they’re treated the same way that I am,” Carmody said. “It’s important to me that they’re alive and that they have the same rights that I do.

“If you stay home because it does not directly affect you, that’s the definition [of privilege],” she said.