It’s LABOR DAY - so no livestream today, instead lets talk about queer folks role in getting this holiday up and running. Because remember - your boss didn’t give you today off, we forced him to!
The first Labor Day took place way back on September 5, 1882 when around 10,000 workers marched in a massive parade from New York City Hall to 42nd Street, followed by a huge picnic, concert, and speeches at Wendel's Elm Park.
The credit for who organized this event MOSTLY goes to the Central Labor Union of New York City, though historians debate which specific labor leader actually originated the idea - they pretty well split the difference by giving credit to Peter McGuire:, a co-founder of the American Federation of Labor, and Matthew Maguire, a machinist and secretary of the Central Labor Union in New York, whom many modern records suggest actually first proposed the September holiday.
Unfortunately, the political history of this day usually gets stripped down to a squabble over which white boy should get the credit. But I like to think of Labor Day being not just who started it or as one day - but rather as what led up to the parade and picnic of 1882 and what came right after the official holiday being federally declared June 28, 1894 by President Grover Cleveland.
Like how the success of Labor Day paved the way for the most marginalized workers to find success in future strikes. Speaking of course of the real life NEWSIES who held their strike against newspaper tycoons Pulitzer & Hearst in 1899.
And while theres no historical evidence that the Newsies were a part of the LGBTQ+, the original Broadway book was written by gay icon Harvey Fierstein and the 1992 cult-classic movie holds a distinct nostalgic status within parts of the lesbian community, often cited as a staple film among queer women who grew up in the 90s and 2000s such as - myself (lol) so I’M INCLUDING IT!
Labor Day was built on the back of a simple idea: that working people deserve dignity, safety, and a fair share of the wealth they create. And for more than half a century, LGBTQ+ people haven’t just been part of that struggle—they have frequently led it, standard-bearers in the push for economic justice long before the law offered them a shred of protection.
The Lavender Line on the Factory Floor
For much of the 20th century, being openly gay or trans wasn’t just a social stigma; it was an immediate pink slip. Without employment protections, a rumor or an arrest at a local bar was enough to ruin your livelihood overnight.
Because traditional corporate management routinely weaponized identity to fire workers, queer people learned early on that their safest bet was collective bargaining. In a union shop, you couldn’t be fired at the whim of a homophobic boss—you needed “just cause.” With the Union, your weird boss being overly curious about what you do in your bedroom wasn’t cause enough!
This wasn’t theoretical. In 1970, the San Francisco Bay Area Gay Liberation Front lead by Harvey Milk teamed up with the Teamsters to boycott Coors Beer. Coors wasn’t just anti-union; job applicants were subjected to polygraph tests asking if they were homosexual or held pro-union views. Queer activists and union drivers joined forces, refusing to deliver or buy the beer. That coalition didn’t just cripple Coors’ market share in California—it forged an unprecedented alliance between rank-and-file union members and gay liberationists.
And How did Coors Respond??
Members of the Coors family used their wealth to fund conservative and anti-LGBTQ+ political causes. Joseph Coors helped fund the creation of the Heritage Foundation, a think tank that “provided policy blueprints for the Reagan administration and continues to influence policy today.” Family money also supported other right-wing groups that opposed civil rights and equal protections.
By the late 1970s and 1980s, LGBTQ+ caucus groups began springing up within major unions like the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) CURRENTLY led by one of my favorite lesbian labor leaders Ms. Rhonda "Randi" Weingarten, and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) which boasts the Lavender Caucus Bylaws, “Our purpose is to facilitate open and respectful communication between the LGBTQIA+ community and the labor movement.”
Long before marriage equality was on the Supreme Court’s radar, union bargaining tables were where real-world queer rights were won. Union stewards fought to include “sexual orientation” in non-discrimination clauses of labor contracts throughout the ‘70s and ‘80s. When the HIV/AIDS epidemic struck, unions were among the first institutions to negotiate health coverage for domestic partners and push back against workplace discrimination directed at sick workers.
Couple of fun facts to drop at your Labor Day gathering when your MAGA cousin or uncle tries to claim this holiday is a conservative working mans holiday:
1970: The American Postal Workers Union becomes one of the first major national unions to explicitly advocate against discrimination based on sexual orientation.
1974: Bay Area Coors Boycott solidifies the alliance between gay activists and the Teamsters, demonstrating the economic power of solidarity.
1980s: Pride at Work movements take root inside organized labor, pushing unions to fight for domestic partner benefits and HIV/AIDS workplace education during the height of the crisis.
1997: Pride at Work officially becomes an constituency group of the AFL-CIO, cementing LGBTQ+ solidarity within the central body of American labor.
Why “Pride” and “Labor” Are the Same Fight
The original Pride was a riot led by trans women of color, sex workers, and working-class youth fighting back against police violence. It was, at its core, a working-class rebellion.
Economic survival and queer liberation have always been skipping along down the yellow brick road against authoritarianism arm in arm. When housing is unaffordable, healthcare is tied to employment, and wages are stagnant, marginalized people feel the burn first and hardest. A trans worker fighting for gender-affirming care today is fighting the exact same battle for healthcare justice for children the Trump admin is seeking to strip of their Medicare. The people fighting against Republicans trying to roll back child labor protection laws will be found in the protest crowds demanding the closure of ICE facilities. One thing I truly appreciate about being on the left, is the way we are able to find time to support each others causes, and recognize they are all the same fight. We the People vs the Oligarchs who seek to destroy our right to life, liberty and the pursuit of freedom.
Labor Day isn’t just a long weekend to mark the end of summer, and it isn’t just about hard hats, assembly lines or even beer boycotts. It’s about the fundamental right to bring your whole self to work, be treated with dignity, and get paid what you’re worth.
So this Labor Day, raise a glass to the labor hall organizers, and to Columbia Musical Theatre Society's production of Newsies which specifically designed its casting to highlight transgender actors, actors of color, and disabled actors. Grill up an extra hot dog for the brick throwing drag queens, the picketers and even that giant “Scabby the Rat” they put outside business who are ani-union.
A big CHEERS to all of us who understand a basic truth: “An Injury to One, is an Injury to All”
.. there’s courage in a crowd, join us!
My dad was a member of the UAW. During strikes we’d go with my dad to the Union Hall and get some groceries for our family. This helped sustain the fight for something better for the workers.
I am a retired Union member who worked at a huge local hospital. My Union pays me my pension.
America’s workers need good, strong Unions.
Happy Labor Day!
Great read thank you. And why are you up at 3am?!?!