As Black gay writer Sam MacKenzie pointed out the other day, Chappelle hasn't done the reading. He's making jokes without being immersed in the facts. Something he clearly doesn't know is that a majority of U.S. mainstream LGBTQ organizations today are led by people of color, often Black people, often Black women. Queer white people have been stepping back to allow the interests of intersectionally marginalized people to take more prominence.

It's some of these same Black queer leaders, for example, who are keeping police brutality against Black people in New York City at the center of LGBTQ resistance. This summer, while it seemed like the rest of the nation had forgotten about the BLM summer of 2020, the collective leadership of New York City queer activist organizations pressured Heritage of Pride (HOP) to ban uniformed police from our parades and other events, giving the NYPD a list of demands and a timeline for meeting them.

It's true this went over badly with some people, primarily with some privileged gay white men. I personally took a lot of shit when I publicly supported HOP. But HOP stuck to their guns and is keeping police brutality against Black people at the center of their priorities. Not because they want to necessarily, but because Black queer people make up a sizable percentage of LGBTQ folks in New York and because their voices are heard and powerful in our communities.

Which I suspect is a reason a lot of Black queer people are asking Chappelle, "What about us? Don't you know we exist?"