by Aryn Fields •
WASHINGTON—Today, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ+) civil rights organization, is marking the first day of Pride Month 2022, with an op-ed and video message from Interim President Joni Madison that centers the crisis facing the LGBTQ+ community and emphasizes the importance of activism during Pride.
In the op-ed, Interim President of The Human Rights Campaign, Joni Madison, writes:
Our LGBTQ+ community is living in a state of emergency. Power-hungry politicians, in state houses across our country, are bullying children and terrorizing families. For transgender and non-binary people they are pouring gasoline on a wildfire of stigma, discrimination, and violence.
So, this Pride Month—I want us each to think about what community means: showing up for one another when it counts. I want you to own and embrace all of who you are, and tell the bullies that we will not hide our Pride.”
This year, over seventeen states have passed legislation preventing transgender children from playing sports with their peers. Two states have passed legislation preventing transgender children from using the appropriate restroom at school. Five states have passed legislation censoring LGBTQ+ issues in schools. And two states have banned life-saving, medically necessary care. Furthermore, statewide officials in Texas have tried to criminalize transition care for minors, and lawmakers in Alabama passed legislation to do so as well. In Florida, the “Don’t Say Gay or Trans” bill was singed into law and blocks teachers from talking about LGBTQ+ issues or people.
In February, Gallup released polling that showed a growing percentage of adults in the U.S. are LGBTQ+ identifying—7.1% of U.S. adults identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and/or some other LGBTQ+ identity. Bisexual identification is most common; accounting for more than 56% of all LGBTQ+ identified adults, and approximately 4% of the U.S. adult population. An additional third of LGBTQ+ adults identified as gay (20.7%) and/or lesbian (13.9%), accounting for approximately 2.5% of the U.S. adult population. Additionally, an estimated one in ten LGBTQ+ adults identifies as transgender, accounting for 0.7% of the U.S. adult population.
Other key excerpts from Joni Madison’s op-ed are below:
During Pride Month, we celebrate our stories: stories of our elders who fought to realize progress, our own stories of coming out, of falling in love, of finding healing in community. But this year, I hear stories everyday that break my heart—stories of trans and non-binary children, their families, and millions of LGBTQ+ people whose rights and lives are under attack.
The truth is this: while we uphold systems that maintain the status quo—a status quo of institutionalized white supremacy, sexism, homophobia, transphobia and xenophobia—we allow our democracy to decay. When we just shake our heads and then move on from someone else’s injustice, we abdicate our responsibility to ourselves, to each other, and to the ultimate direction of our nation."
So, this Pride Month—I want us each to think about what community means: showing up for one another when it counts. If you are excited for Pride, I want you to hold tight to that joy. I want you to own and embrace all of who you are, and tell the bullies that we will not hide our Pride. Because the next chapter of our movement is yet to be written, and we have the power to write a chapter where the next generation can stand upon our shoulders and declare liberation for us all—that’s the story of Pride."
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