Good afternoon and Happy Pride!

Across the country, communities have been celebrating Pride Month. Even beyond the major city parades, there are hundreds of small towns and rural Prides uplifting the over 3 million members of the LGBTQ+ community that call rural America home.

Yet rising vitriolic rhetoric pushed by Republican lawmakers has increased threats against our LGBTQ+ neighbors. Last year, 84 laws in the U.S. banned LGBTQ+ books, restricted expression, and limited health care access. This year, even more bills have been introduced to restrict gay rights amid an atmosphere of increasing threats of violence against the LGBTQ+ community, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

LGBTQ+ and live in Florida? Good luck, babe! Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has made his state a hellhole of LGBTQ+ restrictions with his "slate of hate" policies that continue to make headlines, from the infamous "Don't Say Gay" law to a ban on rainbow lighting for bridges. He may be calling it 'Freedom Summer,' but it's an ugly move of repression that has uprooted Floridians who are fleeing to states that are actually more pro-freedom and pro-family.

Thankfully, judges are dismembering this disgusting and dangerous agenda, and the Florida Legislature is losing momentum in passing culture war legislation.

Even more hopefully, more and more Pride Festivals are springing up in the face of hate. Prague, Oklahoma – in a state where over 40 anti-LGBTQ+ bills were filed last legislative session – saw community members come together for their first Prague Pride. Rural Michigan and Minnesota towns are hot to go for Pride, showing support and helping to make their LGBTQ+ neighbors feel accepted.

Here's what else you need to know this week...

• If Florida is a hotbed for hate, it's also straight-up hot. Miami had to issue its first Heat Advisory during May in 15 years. Despite this, DeSantis signed HB 433, which prohibits heat protections for outdoor workers – including farmworkers and construction workers who feed and house us.

• Representative Kathy Castor (D-FL-14) is calling on the Biden administration to take action. In 2021, President Biden directed the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSDA) to begin heat stress rulemaking, and protect workers exposed to heat risks.

• Separately, yesterday, environmental, labor and health groups wrote to FEMA urging the agency to provide disaster relief funding for extreme heat. FEMA currently does not recognize extreme heat or wildfire smoke as major disasters.

• Rising temperatures, fueled by climate change, are threatening health and safety across the board. Schools lacking air conditioning are forced to send students home, interrupting learning. Heat – along with other extreme weather – can even affect elections. See heat conditions near you here.

• The Inflation Reduction Act's (IRA) revolutionary climate and energy investments are the largest in American history, working to create clean energy jobs and revolutionize climate change adaptation. See what programs the IRA is funding near you.

• NOLA: Louisiana is trying to expand internet access. Rural schools say it's taking too long.
• Ohio Capital Journal: A new federal program will give eligible students $120 to buy groceries this summer
• South Dakota News Watch: Access to health care limited in SD rural and reservation areas

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