Pride alert

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Pride alert
Pride is a time to be bold, brave, and proud of ourselves and our accomplishments — to celebrate queer joy — but so many of our community members are in crisis. Currently, half of US states have enacted laws that make daily life unsafe for LGBTQ people. These laws are meant to force queer people from the public square in fear and push us all back into the closet, but we refuse to be written out of history.

The progress we celebrate each June may be slipping through our fingers, 530 anti-LGBTQ bills have been introduced in state legislatures in 2023 so far:

    • 18 states have banned medically necessary care for trans youth.
    • 21 states have passed school sports bans, many specifically targeting trans girls between the ages of 5 and 17.
    • 3 states have passed forced outing laws for transgender kids in schools.
    • 24 states have introduced Don’t Say Gay laws.
    • 45 states have proposed anti-trans laws.

    In response, we should not be complacent. We should contact our elected officials. We should insist that they reconsider their anti-LGBTQ invective. Their legislative attacks and transphobic propaganda endanger lives. The mass shooting in Colorado Springs last November that killed five people inside an LGBTQ nightclub is evidence that the hate directed at us has deadly consequences.

    There is much to celebrate this Pride month. Wins in legal protections through the Supreme Court in same sex marriage and Title VII cases moved us closer toward equality.

    However, anti-LGBTQ aggression from the political right prompts us to fight to preserve and expand on our gains. We should resist these dangerous incursions from those who would undo our progress.

     


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