Lakota Law's Tokata Iron Eyes attended the very first Black Hills Pride March in Rapid City, S.D. Tokata’s experience at the march was illuminating — as the beauty of the celebration was nearly shattered when a man who pulled a knife had to be restrained by Indigenous security guards.

This goes to show, once again, that we — and not the militarized police state — keep ourselves and our relatives safe . Police are incredibly lucky that those who hosted the pride event had security of their own.

As Pride Month continues, let's remember that queerness was here first. Natives Nations preexist the state and its racist and colonial ideologies regarding gender and sexuality. Pride is an intersectional movement built out of the lived and dedicated struggle of working class Black, brown, and Native LGBTQ2S+ peoples whose human and civil rights are still denied or violated across the country and around the globe to this day.