Happy Birthday, Audre Lorde!

On this anniversary of Audre Lorde’s birth, we celebrate Black History Month and all of our black LGBT forebears.

She called herself “black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet” — and so many of her words continue to testify that intersectionality, like poetry, is not a luxury.

She said: “I find I am constantly being encouraged to pluck out some one aspect of myself and present this as the meaningful whole, eclipsing or denying the other parts of self.”

Not here, dear ancestor. We venerate your complexities. We lift up your contradictions. You told us, “Only by learning to live in harmony with your contradictions can you keep it all afloat.”

Audre Lorde, we celebrate you wholly.