The Rainbow Ain't Never Been Enuf

“A sharp critique of racism, misogyny, and transphobia in the LGBTQ+ community.”
—Publishers Weekly

“An engaging study that highlights the need for intersectional awareness in the LGBTQ+ community.”
—Kirkus Reviews

“Story does not shy away from ‘reading’ the world via an intersectional lens in this text. She is relentless in demanding that her readers understand that any so-called progressive homonormative vision of the future that is anti-Black and misogynistic will never be liberating for all of us for whom the rainbow is supposed to cover.”
—Darnell L. Moore, author of No Ashes in the Fire: Coming of Age Black & Free in America and the host of the podcast Being Seen

“Kaila Adia Story has been honoring the legacy of Audre Lorde with her audacious and loving scholarship and by teaching for over a decade. Now, in this book, she honors all of us with her incisive accountability, her rigorous questions, and her genuine mission to free us all.”
—Alexis Pauline Gumbs, PhD, author of Survival Is a Promise: The Eternal Life of Audre Lorde

“With unflinching honesty and visionary clarity, this work is both a critique and a call to action, essential for anyone seeking to transform the future of queer liberation.”
—E. Patrick Johnson, author of Honeypot: Black Southern Women Who Love Women

“This book challenges us to debunk myths about LGBTQ+ solidarity and to rightfully demand that we anchor liberatory resistance in Black and Latinx queer/trans pasts, presents, and futures. All rainbows ain’t the same.”
—Treva B. Lindsey, professor of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Ohio State University and author of America, Goddam: Violence, Black Women, and the Struggle for Justice

“Through personal experience, Dr. Story shares what it means to live within multiple identities and dispels the myth that ‘the rainbow’ is a symbol of solidarity and safety for all. This brilliant nod to Ntozake Shange’s for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf is a dynamic contribution to Black studies, women’s and gender studies, and queer studies alike.”
—Yaba Blay, author of One Drop: Shifting the Lens on Race

“Kaila Adia Story has gifted us an urgent, courageous, and mindful road map to becoming the community all LGBTQ+ people deserve and creating the world we all need. This book holds readers with such care as we walk through the very real pain Story tells of in beautiful prose and incisive analysis, and yet also holds those same readers in loving accountability. It’s past time for humanity to do a new thing, and Story shows us how to do it.”
—Eric Darnell Pritchard, author of Fashioning Lives: Black Queers and the Politics of Literacy

“As a Black lesbian, I found myself deeply moved by every word in this book. It resonated with my experiences, my struggles, and my triumphs. I couldn’t put it down because I saw my own story reflected back at me—my pain, my encounters with discrimination, my disappointments with so-called white allies, and, most importantly, my joy. This book reminded me of an undeniable truth: we all we got. The Rainbow Ain’t Never Been Enuf is everything we need right now. In a world where Black trans women are silenced and erased, where violence against Black and Latinx queer and trans communities persists, this book offers a crucial intervention. It challenges us to remember the lives and contributions of those who have made the dream of queer liberation possible. You don’t have to be queer to read this book. You just need to be in search of humanity.”
—Bettina L. Love, author of We Want to Do More Than Survive