Janelle Monáe delivered a stirring speech at WeHo Pride's Outloud Music Festival this past weekend.
The nonbinary singer was the headliner of Saturday night at the WeHo Pride event, where she used the stage at the West Hollywood Park to address the political realities facing LGBTQ+ and intersectional communities in the United States and abroad.
"I wanna say when I think about Pride, what I'm most proud of is how we show up for other marginalized groups. In this country, and across the pond, and in other countries, we understand injustice, discrimination, hatred, violence deeply," she said. "And so when we stand up, when my people, when you stand up, and you are fighting for other marginalized groups, when you are fighting to protect the babies and the innocent lives in Gaza, I stand with you. And you are fighting to protect our babies in Sudan and Darfur. I am proud, and I stand with you. In the Congo, I stand with you."
“Right here in America, when you stand up to protect your body, our bodies away from politicians telling us what we can't do… I am proud and I stand with you," she continued. "When you are fighting to protect the books with our names, with our names, LGBTQIA+ in them in schools. So that young kids like us when we were kids can see themselves. I am proud I stand with you. When you are fighting to protect Black history from being erased from our school systems. I stand with you. When you are fighting to protect homeless people or people in different countries being displaced by their governments, I stand with you."
"When you are fighting to protect the rights of your family, there is nothing… that makes me more proud. I could go on and on and on. But I wanna get to what also makes me proud… we know how to have a motherf*cking good time," she concluded, before resuming her set.
It was not the only time the "Make Me Feel" singer used the stage to remind the crowd of the reason for the season. At one point, she wore a floral headband and paid homage to the late activist Marsha P. Johnson by name as well as other LGBTQ+ trailblazers like Freddie Mercury.
The Outloud Music Festival ran from May 31 to June 2 at the West Hollywood Park. Other headliners included Kylie Minogue and Kesha.
