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A queer Black feminist debunks the myth of rainbow solidarity, repositioning Black and Latinx LGBTQ+ people at the forefront of queer pasts, presents, and futures
Your favorite Black queer studies professor Kaila Adia Story says the rainbow ain’t never been enough in this introduction to the current state of queer intersectionality, or lack thereof. Story argues that to be queer is to be political, and the carefully glittered façade of solidarity in the pride movement veils dangerous neoliberal ideals of apolitical queer embodiment. The rainbow as a symbol of communal solidarity is a hollow offering when cis white LGBTQ people are allowed to opt out of divesting from white supremacy, misogyny, and transphobia.
The Rainbow Ain’t Never Been Enuf fills a necessary gap in our understanding of how racism, transphobia, and antiblackness operate in liberal spaces. Black feminist and queer theorist Kaila Adia Story blends analysis, pop culture, and her lived experiences to explore the silencing practices of mainstream queer culture. She touches on cornerstone issues of the movement like
- the whitewashing of queer history and commodification of pride celebrations
- the appropriation of the Black and Latinx ball scene and culture
- the racialized and gendered violence inflicted upon Black trans women
- the exclusion of the lives and work of activists like Marsha P. Johnson, Sylvia Rivera, Stormé DeLarverie, and CeCe McDonald from queer history
- the lack of remembrance and respect for the lives of the Black and Latinx queer and trans people who have always been on the frontlines of queer liberation
Expanding beyond the classroom, Story utilizes her expertise as a scholar of queer theory to offer readers a comprehensive understanding of how racism operates in these spaces and what we can do to create a more equitable future.
“Kaila Adia Story has been honoring the legacy of Audre Lorde with her audacious and loving scholarship and by teaching for over a decade. Now, in this book, she honors all of us with her incisive accountability, her rigorous questions, and her genuine mission to free us all.”
—Alexis Pauline Gumbs, PhD, author of Survival Is a Promise: The Eternal Life of Audre Lorde
“In The Rainbow Ain’t Never Been Enuf, Kaila Adia Story delivers a searing critique of the false narrative of LGBTQ+ unity. Combining rigorous scholarship, cultural analysis, and personal insight, Story dismantles the racism, transphobia, and anti-Blackness that persist in mainstream queer spaces. She amplifies the voices and legacies of Black and Latinx LGBTQ+ trailblazers, calling for a radical reimagining of solidarity rooted in justice and equity. With unflinching honesty and visionary clarity, this work is both a critique and a call to action, essential for anyone seeking to transform the future of queer liberation.”
—E. Patrick Johnson, author of Honeypot: Black Southern Women Who Love Women
“Kaila Adia Story’s offering is in line with the Black queer literary intervention that is ‘troublemaking,’ as the Black lesbian poet Cheryl Clarke is wont to say. Story does not shy away from ‘reading’ the world via an intersectional lens in this text. She is relentless in demanding that her readers understand that any so-called progressive homonormative vision of the future that is anti-Black and misogynistic will never be liberating for all of us for whom the rainbow is supposed to cover.”
—Darnell L. Moore, author of No Ashes in the Fire: Coming of Age Black & Free in America and the host of the podcast Being Seen
“Beautiful, compelling, and brilliant. Kaila Adia Story seamlessly interweaves the personal, archival, theoretical, and the ancestral in this richly compelling journey of Black and Latinx queer and trans worldmaking. This book challenges us to debunk myths about LGBTQ+ solidarity and to rightfully demand that we anchor liberatory resistance in Black and Latinx queer/trans pasts, presents, and futures. All rainbows ain’t the same.”
—Treva B. Lindsey, professor of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Ohio State University and author of America, Goddam: Violence, Black Women, and the Struggle for Justice
“The Rainbow Ain’t Never Been Enuf holds a needed critique of the LGBTQ+ community and confronts a truth that has long been suppressed: being queer does not absolve a person from being racist or holding white supremacist, misogynistic, or transphobic views. Through personal experience, Dr. Story shares what it means to live within multiple identities and dispels the myth that ‘the rainbow’ is a symbol of solidarity and safety for all. This brilliant nod to Ntozake Shange’s for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf is a dynamic contribution to Black studies, women’s and gender studies, and queer studies alike.”
—Yaba Blay, author of One Drop: Shifting the Lens on Race
“Kaila Adia Story has gifted us an urgent, courageous, and mindful road map to becoming the community all LGBTQ+ people deserve and creating the world we all need. This book holds readers with such care as we walk through the very real pain Story tells of in beautiful prose and incisive analysis, and yet also holds those same readers in loving accountability. It’s past time for humanity to do a new thing, and Story shows us how to do it.”
—Eric Darnell Pritchard, author of Fashioning Lives: Black Queers and the Politics of Literacy
“As a Black lesbian, I found myself deeply moved by every word in this book. It resonated with my experiences, my struggles, and my triumphs. I couldn’t put it down because I saw my own story reflected back at me—my pain, my encounters with discrimination, my disappointments with so-called white allies, and, most importantly, my joy. This book reminded me of an undeniable truth: we all we got. The Rainbow Ain’t Never Been Enuf is everything we need right now. In a world where Black trans women are silenced and erased, where violence against Black and Latinx queer and trans communities persists, this book offers a crucial intervention. It challenges us to remember the lives and contributions of those who have made the dream of queer liberation possible. You don’t have to be queer to read this book. You just need to be in search of humanity.”
—Bettina L. Love, author of We Want to Do More Than Survive