Dear MoveOn member,
The GOP has made it clear: From abortion bans to bans on trans athletes and gender-affirming care, no one is safe. Across the U.S., Republicans have introduced hundreds of violent, abusive, and hateful anti-LGBTQ+ bills in state legislatures, and many of them have already passed, such Florida's "Don't Say Gay" law and Ohio's "genital check" bill which passed their House a couple weeks ago.
Pride Month began as a protest for LGBTQ+ liberation. We celebrate it now to honor the fierce activists who paved the road we're on, and as a way to honor the enduring love, joy, hope, and resistance of LGBTQ+ folks. And we celebrate it now by taking action—signing petitions, sharing resources, sending letters to our representatives, and more. Will you join us by taking action in honor of Pride Month?
We can celebrate thanks to fierce elders like Marsha P. Johnson, Sylvia Rivera, Miss Major, Stormé DeLarverie, and so many others who came before and after them. We're grounded in the fact that many trans folks, Black folks, and people of color who led the Stonewall uprising in 1969 were faced with police violence and brutality for simply existing.1
Today the fight for collective, intersectional, and inclusive liberation—one that amplifies the voices of the most vulnerable members of our communities—is still ongoing. We’ve come so far—and yet still have so far to go.
Still, LGBTQ+ people and queer folks—especially Black, brown, trans, and Two-Spirit folks—are being brutally murdered, and trans and nonbinary youth are being targeted by Republicans in disgusting legislation.2,3 Trans people are losing their health care, and queer people are being violently attacked just for being who they are.4 We cannot and will not allow Republicans to viciously erase LGBTQ+ people and our history from this country. We can’t stop fighting.
Will you take action to protect LGBTQ+ youth?
Republicans are actively running a full-court press across the country to attack our most vulnerable communities and to put LGBTQ+ youth in harm's way by introducing over 100 anti-LGBTQ+ bills, most of which target trans and nonbinary youth.5
After the "Don’t Say Gay" bill—which prevents teachers from talking about LGBTQ+ issues or people and will undermine existing protections for LGBTQ+ kids—was signed into law in Florida, Alabama quickly followed suit, and copycat versions of the dangerous, homophobic, and transphobic bill are now being considered in at least 19 additional states.6
But that’s not all. Republicans in states across the country are also barring trans youth from receiving gender-affirming—and lifesaving—health care. And they’re not stopping there.7 The GOP's end goal is to bar trans and nonbinary people in general from receiving this care too. We can’t, and won’t, let that happen. Bills like this cause further, immeasurable harm to communities that already face harassment, discrimination, and attacks day after day for simply existing. These bills are attempts at erasing us, stigmatizing us, and isolating us, and they would continue to push LGBTQ+ youth even further to the margins. LGBTQ+ youth are counting on all of us to rise up and fight back.
The GOP’s latest all-out attacks, from restrictions to full-out bans on trans athletes to bans on abortion at fertilization to bans on gender-affirming care, are all about bodily autonomy—and are fundamentally connected. And Republicans have no intention of slowing down these attacks.
What they want is to divide us. But we won’t let them. We all have to be in this together, in solidarity with all LGBTQ+ folks—especially Black, brown, and Indigenous LGBTQ+ people. Our queer elders should be resting, and instead, they are watching as our communities continue to be harmed repeatedly.8
Together, we can organize our communities, elect more progressive Democrats, sign petitions, and call on Congress and local governments to pass legislation to protect our communities. This is why the MoveOn team created a website dedicated to protecting LGBTQ+ youth.
The LGBTQ+ community deserves the right to feel safe and supported, whether that’s at home, at school, or in their communities. This month and always, we must hold space for happiness about how far we’ve come, grieve for whom and what we’ve lost along the way, and continue pushing for the collective liberation of all of us, especially queer folks who need our support right now.
Click here and take action to protect LGBTQ+ youth, and then pass this link along to three friends.
Thanks for all you do,
–Nakia, Jenn, Chrissy, and the rest of the MoveOn team
Sources:
1. "Why we owe Pride to black transgender women who threw bricks at cops," USA Today, June 28, 2019
https://act.moveon.org/go/163320?t=21&akid=325517%2E40999114%2EG7FB6t
2. "LEGISLATION AFFECTING LGBTQ RIGHTS ACROSS THE COUNTRY," ACLU, accessed May 26, 2022
https://act.moveon.org/go/160992?t=23&akid=325517%2E40999114%2EG7FB6t
3. "Anti-trans laws make everyone less safe," The Washington Post, May 17, 2022
https://act.moveon.org/go/163321?t=25&akid=325517%2E40999114%2EG7FB6t
4. "Criminalizing Abortion and Gender-Affirming Care Marks Political Invasion of Evidence-Based Healthcare," Ms., June 3, 2022
https://act.moveon.org/go/163322?t=27&akid=325517%2E40999114%2EG7FB6t
5. "Hundreds of anti-LGBTQ bills have already been introduced this year. Here may be why," NPR, April 14, 2022
https://act.moveon.org/go/163323?t=29&akid=325517%2E40999114%2EG7FB6t
6. "Copy Cat 'Don't Say Gay' Bills Spread in the US," Bloomberg, April 13, 2022
https://act.moveon.org/go/163324?t=31&akid=325517%2E40999114%2EG7FB6t
7. "Anti-trans laws make everyone less safe," The Washington Post, May 17, 2022
https://act.moveon.org/go/163321?t=33&akid=325517%2E40999114%2EG7FB6t
8. "A generation of LGBTQ advocates hopes the clock isn’t ticking backward," The Washington Post, May 20,2022
https://act.moveon.org/go/163325?t=35&akid=325517%2E40999114%2EG7FB6t
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