Several different legislative trackers have noted that, in the first five months of this year leading up to Pride Month, which began on June 1, hundreds of anti-LGBTQ bills have been proposed in statehouses across the country, with dozens of them passing.
A tracker managed by Erin Reed, a transgender journalist and activist who provides daily updates on LGBTQ-focused legislation (both negative and positive bills), found that more than 530 anti-LGBTQ bills have been drafted and proposed in state legislatures and in Congress. Of those bills, which were submitted between January 1 and May 31, 68 have been enacted into law, with only 122 officially failing so far.
The rest of the bills are either in legislative limbo or still being considered.
Separate groups have provided different counts that, while not exactly the same number as the aforementioned tracker, have the same findings — that hundreds of bills across the country are targeting LGBTQ people, particularly transgender individuals.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has tracked, for example, 491 anti-LGBTQ bills in statehouses across the country (their count does not include federal legislation). The Human Rights Campaign (HRC), meanwhile, has counted 520 bills introduced this year, a number they say is a record high for the amount of anti-LGBTQ bills proposed by this date in any year.
“This weaponization of public policy has been driven by extremist groups that have a long history in working to oppress the existence and rights of LGBTQ+ people,” HRC says on its tracker, citing far right groups such as the Alliance Defending Freedom and the Family Research Council as pushers of such proposals.
Many of the bills that are out there, particularly the proposals targeting transgender people, ignore scientific consensus on gender and contradict the advice of all major U.S. medical associations. Close to 150 bills, for example, seek to ban gender-affirming care for trans people, mostly for children but some also for adults, even though mainstream medical groups recognize that such care is life-saving treatment.
In spite of these many legislative attacks, which activists and allies have routinely pointed out are attempts to eradicate LGBTQ people from public life, Reed has said they should not deter people from celebrating during Pride Month — and renewing their dedication toward LGBTQ liberation.
“The history of the LGBTQ+ community is one of thriving in the face of adversity, even when they push us into the margins,” Reed said in a Substack post she wrote on the “daunting push of 530 anti-trans bills across America.”
Reed went on to say:
We carry forward a potent legacy, one of not merely surviving but flourishing even in the margins where we’ve been relegated. We return, time and time again, stronger than ever before.
“If the recent transgender visibility marches are any indication, we might be on the brink of witnessing the most substantial Pride celebrations in recent memory,” Reed said.
She concluded by noting that the “growing crowds” of LGBTQ people and their allies reveal that anti-LGBTQ bigots and lawmakers “have failed in their goal.”
“We are still here; they couldn’t eradicate us. No matter how many laws they pass, we still will gather in our streets,” Reed concluded. “We will celebrate their failure and our fight for liberation for an entire month. No matter how many of us they harm, Pride will always be a protest and our queer joy will be our resistance.”
We’re not backing down in the face of Trump’s threats.
As Donald Trump is inaugurated a second time, independent media organizations are faced with urgent mandates: Tell the truth more loudly than ever before. Do that work even as our standard modes of distribution (such as social media platforms) are being manipulated and curtailed by forces of fascist repression and ruthless capitalism. Do that work even as journalism and journalists face targeted attacks, including from the government itself. And do that work in community, never forgetting that we’re not shouting into a faceless void – we’re reaching out to real people amid a life-threatening political climate.
Our task is formidable, and it requires us to ground ourselves in our principles, remind ourselves of our utility, dig in and commit.
As a dizzying number of corporate news organizations – either through need or greed – rush to implement new ways to further monetize their content, and others acquiesce to Trump’s wishes, now is a time for movement media-makers to double down on community-first models.
At Truthout, we are reaffirming our commitments on this front: We won’t run ads or have a paywall because we believe that everyone should have access to information, and that access should exist without barriers and free of distractions from craven corporate interests. We recognize the implications for democracy when information-seekers click a link only to find the article trapped behind a paywall or buried on a page with dozens of invasive ads. The laws of capitalism dictate an unending increase in monetization, and much of the media simply follows those laws. Truthout and many of our peers are dedicating ourselves to following other paths – a commitment which feels vital in a moment when corporations are evermore overtly embedded in government.
Over 80 percent of Truthout‘s funding comes from small individual donations from our community of readers, and the remaining 20 percent comes from a handful of social justice-oriented foundations. Over a third of our total budget is supported by recurring monthly donors, many of whom give because they want to help us keep Truthout barrier-free for everyone.
You can help by giving today. Whether you can make a small monthly donation or a larger gift, Truthout only works with your support.