Rainbow Ain't Never Been Enuf,The: On the Myth of LGBTQ+ Solidarity

(Hardback)

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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 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 fa ade 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, Storme DeLarverie, and CeCe McDonald from queer history the lack of remembrance and respect for the lives of the Black and Lantinx 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.

Reviews

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 Aint 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 Storys 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 aint 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 Aint 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 Shanges for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf is a dynamic contribution to Black studies, womens and gender studies, and queer studies alike.
Yaba Blay, author of One Drop: Shifting the Lens on Race

Author Bio

Kaila Adia Story, PhD is an associate professor in the Departments of Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and Pan-African Studies, as well as the Audre _x202A_Lorde Endowed Chair at the University of Louisville. She is also the co-creator, co-producer, and cohost of Louisville Public Media's Strange Fruit- Musings on Politics, Pop Culture, and Black Gay Life, a popular award-winning podcast. Her research examines the intersections of race and sexuality, with special attention to Black feminism, Black lesbians, and Black queer identity. In 2017, Dr. Story was named an LGBTQ+ community leader and change maker by NBC's inaugural #Pride30. In 2021, she was recognized Michelle Obama's non-profit organization, Reach Higher for creating safe spaces for LGBTQ+ students in and out of higher education. Dr. Story was chosen as the 2022 Champion of Pride for the state of Kentucky by The Advocate magazine.