Each issue, The Progressive poses just one question to a panel of expert voices—writers, thinkers, politicians, artists, and others who help shape the national conversation. For our June/July 2023 issue, contemplating Pride Month during a nationwide barrage of Republican attacks against the LGBTQ+ community, we asked: how can progressives respond to anti-LGBTQ+ legislation?
Ash Orr
Spokesperson at the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE)
In 2023 alone, forty-nine states have introduced discriminatory bills that would harm the LGBTQ+ community, including bans on transition-related care; criminalization of drag, gender performance, and openly existing while trans; restrictions on allowing transgender and intersex students to participate in sports; and more. These bills have enormous negative impacts on our community, and they deny the reality that trans people of all ages are leading joyous, full, normal lives.
To combat these harmful pieces of legislation, it is important to encourage activists, organizers, and policymakers to:
Educate yourself: Start by educating yourself about trans issues and the challenges that trans people face. Learn about the history of the trans community, the discrimination and violence they experience, and the legal and social barriers that they confront. This will help you better understand how to be an effective ally.
Support trans organizations: There are many organizations that work to support and advocate for the trans community. Consider supporting these organizations by donating money or volunteering your time.
Center and amplify LGBTQ+ voices when discussing issues, policies, and plans: Listen to and amplify the voices of trans people. Their experiences and perspectives need to be heard in the fight for trans rights. For example, if you are organizing around an issue that will directly impact the transgender community, seek out transgender and intersex input.
Advocate for trans-inclusive policies: Work to create trans-inclusive policies in your workplace, school, or community. This may involve advocating for gender-neutral bathrooms, using gender-inclusive language, or pushing for anti-discrimination policies that protect trans individuals.
Vote for trans-friendly politicians: Use your vote to support politicians who are committed to trans rights and who will work to create policies that protect and support the trans community.
Call out transphobia and homophobia in your circles: Speak out against transphobia when you hear it. If someone makes a transphobic comment, correct them and explain why it is hurtful and harmful. Use your voice to challenge prejudice and intolerance.
If it is safe to do so, testify publicly or provide testimony by providing first-hand accounts of lived experiences. This challenges lawmakers and proponents of legislation to provide evidence and facts to support their assertions.
Sign up for NCTE state action alerts, a comprehensive state-by-state guide that keeps constituents up to date on anti-LGBTQ+ policies introduced in their state, as well as participating in calls to action in their communities.
Participate in the Let Us Play campaign, which is currently collecting public comments in response to the recently proposed Title IX regulation by the U.S. Department of Education regarding the requirement for inclusion of transgender, nonbinary, and intersex students in school sports under Title IX. Organized by NCTE in partnership with other advocacy groups, the campaign calls on the community to submit public comments to advocate for full inclusion of transgender, nonbinary, and intersex youth in sports.
Evan Urquhart, Founder of Assigned Media
No law, government, or political party can eliminate natural human variation. The knowledge that you are not sick, you are not alone, and you are worthy of dignity and human flourishing has already crossed every border and barrier. Legal strategies can fail, elections can be lost, but the information about who we are, and the love and pride of our community, are irrepressible.
Anti-LGBTQ+ legislation is illegitimate because it is unjust and unequal. I was taught how to respond to unjust laws in childhood because we were taught about the civil rights movement. An unjust law has no moral force. You don’t compromise with it—you defy it, knowing that whatever they do to you, there will be ten more activists you inspire to take your place.
Tori Cooper, Director of community engagement for the Trans Justice Initiative at the Human Rights Campaign
Nothing is off the table. It is imperative that we fight anti-LGBTQ+ legislation with the same tools that they’re using, with the exception that we’re only going to tell the truth. One of the reasons the opposition has been so successful is because they have used lies; they have used mistruths; they have used misinformation and disinformation.
We’re going to make sure that people who say they don’t know trans people, or that trans people don’t exist, know who we are. We’re going to make sure to combat every piece of misinformation. We are going to make sure that we provide folks with real-life situations rather than a bunch of hypotheticals. We’re going to make sure that we fight policy with policy, and that we fight irrationality with rational minds and rational thinking.