The 24th annual Bayard Rustin/Audre Lorde Breakfast honored the legacies of LGBTQ+ icons Bayard Rustin and Audre Lorde and celebrated Martin Luther King Jr. by promoting a vision of a “beloved community.”
Hundreds gathered Jan. 20 for the annual event hosted by the Southern Unity Movement. The breakfast is named for pioneering Black gay civil rights activist Bayard Rustin, who helped organize the 1963 March on Washington and was a close adviser to King, and Black lesbian “warrior poet” and activist Audre Lorde. Over the years, the breakfast has become the official LGBTQ+ celebration for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.
“We do this every year because it’s a need. People have expressed that we need to come together,” said Roshelle Darlene Hudson, co-founder of SUM. “This is our family reunion.”
The Rustin/Lorde Breakfast illustrates Dr. King’s vision of the “beloved community” and recognizes the contributions and intersecting identities of LGBTQ+ people in the quest for equality, she said.
The theme for this year’s breakfast was “Powerful Together: Unafraid and Ready for Change.” Hudson said the theme was fitting to celebrate Black LGBTQ+ communities and allies, but also to acknowledge the inauguration of Donald Trump and his promises to usher in an era of anti-LGBTQ+ policies.
Many people are fearful of what will happen over the next four years, Hudson said. Coming together as a community helps quell that anxiety.
“We don’t have to be afraid. We know how to survive. We know how to make it happen,” she said. “This is our time. This is our family reunion.”
“We set the stage, and basically serve as a catalyst to set the tone of how our community is going to move forward — and that’s going to be unafraid,” she said.
