(Sacramento, CA) On February 20, 2024 on the steps of the California Legislature, Lark Doolan, Executive Director Queer Humboldt and Two-Spirit Dry Lab Member, and many distinguished community and elected leaders from across the State of California came together to announce the formation of a statewide advisory council for the California LGBTQ+ Caucus.
“What an honor and incredible opportunity,” remarked Lark Doolan, “to be a part of this newly formed California LGBTQ+ Caucus Advisory Council. It is great to participate in the unveiling of this Statewide Advisory Council and to meaningfully participate in the development of legislation. As a member, I will work to ensure Two-Spirit peoples and communities are represented.”
To watch the entire press conference of this announcement: California LGBTQ+ Caucus Unveils Statewide Advisory Council and Previews Legislative Agenda
To watch Lark Doolan’s insightful and visionary remark, either go to the 20:00 minute mark of the recording or simply CLICK HERE.
Below is a full transcript of Lark’s speech:
Hello, my name is Lark Doolan, and I use he/him pronouns. And as the Executive Director of Queer Humboldt, I work with a diverse team to ensure that rural community members on the north coast of California, who are part of the 2S/LGBTQIA community, have what we need in order to thrive.
I’d like to thank the LGBTQ caucus for ensuring that a rural, community-based organization like ours is represented on this Advisory Council. The bigotry that we are experiencing right now in rural California is distinct from the experiences of our queer relatives living in cities, and I am grateful that those distinctions are being recognized in this setting.
Sexual orientation and gender are cultural constructs. And so, the work of liberation has to be embedded within our unique individual cultures. That’s is why the work we do at Queer Humboldt is proactively intersectional, centering people who have been historically marginalized within the fight for LGBTQ equity – people like Black people, Indigenous people, Latinx people, people who are Asian and Pacific Islander, who are living with disabilities, young people, the elderly, people who are bisexual, people who have gender diverse identities, people who are recent immigrants.
All of our work has to be embedded within the communities that we are serving, which is why we partner with grassroots, social justice organizations in our community and racial, ethnic affinity groups to empower and support people who are already embedded within their communities, doing the work of liberation in culturally relevant ways. We also partner with local tribes, like the Wiyot Tribe, who recognize that Two-Spirit people have always belonged in our community. Queer people belong in every city, in every town, in every classroom, on every sports team. We belong everywhere in California.
We have a long rich history of being here and we have a long and joyful future ahead of us.
We will never have queer liberation without also being liberated from racism, ableism, and all forms of body terrorism. And so I applaud the LGBTQ Caucus for keeping these intersectional identities in mind and ensuring that our collective work can lead to freedom—not just for some of us, but for all of us.
Now it is my joy to introduce Dr. Arturo Durazo…
Lab member, Lark Doolan, at the speaker’s podium, on the steps of the California Capitol.
