The “Anti-Fluff Brigade” Rides Again: Fighting Erasure in Women’s History Month

By Nicole Verdes

The “Anti-Fluff Brigade.” That’s what Marti Mackey referred to as a refusal to smooth over the ugly realities of racism, homophobia, and systemic oppression in favor of feel-good, surface-level representation. She believed that confronting hard truths was the only way to achieve real justice. 

Marti Mackey did not just fight for inclusion; she fought against the illusion that everything was fine when it was not. She saw how white supremacy, racism, and respectability politics were infecting LGBTQ+ spaces. And she called it out. Loudly. Relentlessly. She did not have time for the “let’s just focus on the good” crowd—because real liberation demands truth, not fluff.

As Women’s History Month unfolds, we refuse to let history be sanitized. We refuse to let Marti Mackey, one of San Diego’s most fearless Black lesbian activists, be erased. And we refuse to let the “Anti-Fluff Brigade” die.

They want us to forget. They want us to believe that queer and trans people, especially Black queer and trans people, have no history, no struggle, no victories. But we know better.

Today, the fight she waged is as urgent as ever. Across the country, our histories are being stripped from classrooms, our archives are under threat, and our stories are being rewritten to fit a whitewashed, straightwashed narrative. Books are banned. LGBTQ+ curriculum is gutted. Trans people are legislated out of public life. And yet, we are still here.

Thanks to historian T.J. Tallie’s recent work, Marti Mackey’s legacy, refuses to be buried. From the pages of San Diego’s gay press to the founding of Lesbians and Gays of African Descent United (LAGADU), Mackey’s work was never about making people comfortable, it was about making change. She did not just demand a seat at the table; she flipped the whole damn thing over when necessary.

This Women’s History Month, we do not just remember Marti Mackey, we channel her. We speak up. We fight back. And we make damn sure that our history, our people, and our truth will never be erased.

Are you in?

Our History is Under Attack. We’re Fighting Back.
Right now, Lambda Archives of San Diego is working to protect and preserve the histories they want erased—stories like Marti Mackey’s, and so many others. We are raising $40,000 to safeguard LGBTQ+ history, digitize endangered collections, and expand access to our community’s archives. This work has never been more urgent.

Will you help us keep LGBTQ+ history alive?
[Donate to the Protect LGBTQ+ History Campaign here.]

Read more about Marti Mackey’s legacy and T.J. Tallie’s work here