“The Rainbow Ain’t Never Been Enuf” | Dr. Kaila Story’s New Book on Black Queer History, Building Authentic Community, and the Politics of Difference

April 30, 2025 

By Stephanie Godward, Communications and Marketing Director, College of Arts & Sciences 

Dr. Kaila Story’s life and work as a Black lesbian, feminist, and queer theorist have placed her in a paradox—receiving intense scrutiny and hyper-visibility from others, while simultaneously and very personally experiencing erasure within LGBTQIA+ spaces. 

“I came out at age 16 in Ann Arbor, MI, and I have lived in Chicago, Philly, and now Louisville. Whenever I would inhabit any LGBTQIA+ public space, in all of those cities, I would get antagonized. Whether it was racial antagonism, or encounters with misogyny, with folks touching my body without consent, and racist encounters about my race, have happened more often than I can count” said Story, Associate Professor in the Departments of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and Pan African Studies. Story also holds the Audre Lorde Chair in Race, Class, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at UofL and is the co-creator, co-producer, and cohost of Louisville Public Media's Strange Fruit: Musings on Politics, Pop Culture, and Black Gay Life, a popular award-winning podcast. 

In another example, Story has encountered people who assumed she was a straight Black woman in a gay club, with others assuming she was an entertainer. Story’s life experiences and work as a scholar now come together in a new book, “The Rainbow Ain’t Never Been Enuf: On the Myth of LGBTQ Solidarity” to be released this May by the prestigious, Boston-based independent publisher, Beacon Press.  

The book began to take shape when Story’s research over the years revealed the history of queer liberation and how deeply entrenched Black, queer, and Black trans women and Latinx trans women were involved in the Stonewall uprising, among other key historical events. In addition, Story focuses on how integral these communities of people were to queer liberation from other harmful systems, as her personal experiences and scholarly work intertwined to inspire the book’s creation. 

“I wanted to talk about my research in tandem with my own personal experiences with racial and gendered microaggressions, as well as my experiences with overt forms of racism, sexism, and identity erasure because I once assumed LGBTQIA+ spaces to be inclusive and welcoming ones,” Story said.  “My perception was that these spaces were queer, trans, or LGBTQIA+ friendly, and of course racism wasn't there; and no, sexism wasn't there. But it was there. And it still remains there. So, I wanted to be able to talk about my experience with these things, as I see my experience to be one that is reflective of the experiences of other racialized queer and trans folks.” 

The book explores the rainbow as a symbol of communal solidarity, stating that it is in fact a hollow offering when cis white LGBTQIA+ people are allowed to opt out of divesting from white supremacy, misogyny, and transphobia. “The Rainbow Ain’t Never Been Enuf fills a necessary gap in our understanding of how racism, transphobia, and antiblackness operate in liberal spaces,” its description reads. “Story blends analysis, pop culture, and her lived experiences to explore the silencing practices of mainstream queer culture.” 

In the book, Story also wanted to explore the corporatization of Pride celebrations in America, and how Pride festivals started initially as resource fairs for the queer community, where someone could connect with HIV/AIDS prevention services, pro bono legal representation for people who had been arrested for sex work, or for support with access to food, and building community. 

"Pride has turned into this kind of marketplace, now you walk around a pride festival and there isn’t any resource-oriented or community-oriented materials or interventions for folks. Now pride festivals are like: ‘Hey, we sell coffee, but it's gay,’ or ‘We have rainbow apparel.’ Festivals now are empty and apolitical dance parties, and for me, being Black, being queer, being a woman is inherently political. Being trans or non-binary is also inherently political,” Story states. 

Through this new book, Story wants readers to engage with what it means to really be in community with one another, and what it truly means to have solidarity amongst racial, gender, and sexual differences. 

“I want people to see how queer and trans liberation must be thought of as a multiracial and multiple identity endeavor, and that it is absolutely not possible to achieve any semblance of such without all LGBTQIA+ folks being included,” Story said. “I want all communities, LGBTQIA+ and otherwise to understand that during this terrifying political and social moment, we need one another. But that cannot happen if we allow our communities to be fractured by racial, gendered, and sexual animus.” 

For example, Story recently saw a social media post of a map outlining LGBTQIA+ friendly locations in the United States for anyone feeling unsafe in their current locations due to attacks on the queer community at the federal and state levels. 

“When I saw this, I thought, but what about being scared as a Black queer person? This to me was indicative that queerness, transness, and LGBTQ-ness to mainstream communities, meant white,” Story said. “My hope is that this book ignites conversations about what it means to be authentically in community with one another.” 

Story believes that being in community with one another as LGBTQIA+ individuals and as allies means celebrating and honoring differences and using those differences to ignite social and political change to create a better world.  

“We cannot do that if our solidarity with one another is false. If it's inauthentic, there's really no way for us to really be free and liberated unless we accept the fact that number one, differences exist, and that number two, it's awesome,” Story said. “It's nothing to fear. It's nothing to be to be scared of. It's not a threat. And again, this argument has been one of many Black feminist thinkers, namely that of Audre Lorde, that difference is our springboard. Differences are the thing that should unite us as a community, not divide us in any way. We need to be able to combat harmful systems together, and the only way we can do that is by remaining authentic about our differences and celebrating that amongst our community.” 

Story will have her first of many book events on Tuesday, May 13 at 7 PM at Carmichael’s Bookstore (2720 Frankfort Avenue). Story will be in conversation with her Strange Fruit co-host, longtime Louisville activist and podcaster Jaison Gardner. 

Publisher’s Weekly, called Story’s forthcoming book: “a sharp critique of racism, misogyny, and transphobia in the LGBTQ+ community,” and “An emotionally resonant reappraisal of LGBTQ+ unity.”Click here for more information on Dr. Kaila Story’s book and to purchase the book as well!