June is Pride Month – a month where we celebrate the LGBTQIA+ community and history, uplifting our struggles, our joy, and our celebrations. You might hear often that Pride began as a protest. That is because in June 1969, amidst federal government attacks on the LGBTQ+ community, police raided the Stonewall Inn. Raiding Stonewall Inn was nothing new, but this night, led by drag queens and trans women of color, Stonewall’s patrons fought back against police. This “riot” was only one in many moments of resistance across the country during this time (see Compton’s Cafeteria in 1966, for example), but was unique in the press coverage it received and has been remembered as the kickline kick-off in the movement to fight against the government’s anti-queer policies that policed LGBTQ+ identities and criminalized them. The Stonewall moment led to the first Pride March in 1970, a momentous occasion of speaking truth to power in a public way. We have come a long way since 1969, but we have further to go – in many ways, the issues that undergirded the movement then are the same as the ones that do now: the dominant culture wants to police and shame LGBTQ+ identities to uplift and protect cisgender, heterosexual power in society.
Today, Pride is a month-long celebration of being queer everyday. There are Pride parades that many people participate in, parties all month long, and meaningful connections within the queer community. Pride is an opportunity to acknowledge how far we have come, while also looking solemnly at how far we have to go, and knowing that we will get there the same way we got here: together.
Current Moment
Pride month is always important, but this year is incredibly poignant given the current moment that we are in. Because transgender people are under attack, it is that much more important to understand the role that LGBTQIA+ people play in the current social experience. The last 20 years have yielded amazing results from the decades of hard work and organizing from queer and trans activists – from marriage equality to the normalization of pronoun usage, queer and trans people have been gaining visibility in the mainstream. In many ways, policy advocates have changed the landscape, including enshrining protections for transgender healthcare at the state level, the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, and non-discrimination in the workplace. This activism has also led to more research being done in historically erased communities, such as analyzing the gender wage gap for transgender women, which is $.60 for every $1 that a cisgender man earns. Transgender women also face higher rates of homelessness, which has gone up 57% since 2017, according to the National Alliance to End Homelessness. Additionally, higher rates of homelessness and higher rates of wage insecurity compound regarding lack of healthcare. This can translate into higher rates of breast cancer, for example, in Lesbian and Bisexual women, who face medical stigma combined with financial/insurance insecurity, making their access to medical treatment more difficult.
Understanding the multi-marginalization of LGBTQ+ people at the intersection of race and gender allows policy advocates to push for legislation that serves these vulnerable communities. However, this comes with a sizable opposition, who have landed on trans people as their scapegoat – in order to mobilize their base for their own political gain (such as money and power), powerful people plotted to make trans people the villain of their political campaigns. For example, in Ohio (as in many states, and now federally) transgender students in student athletics have come under scrutiny – specifically, transgender girls and women have been vilified as “men competing for an advantage,” when this has been routinely disproven by medical and sociological evidence time and time again. Creating baseless myths about trans people, the right wing is focused on whipping up fear to advance their own causes. Because of this, we are seeing increased political, institutional, systemic, and interpersonal attacks on transgender people, especially trans women.
But this isn’t new. There is a vested interest in maintaining the cisgender, heterosexual patriarchy that undergirds the American governing system. This is because those in positions of power maintain that power through heralding “traditional American values,” such as the nuclear family structure (male and female household with male and female children), which upholds the gender binary, allowing the economic model of Capitalism to thrive. The idea is that “men go to work, women make the home, and children are raised to follow that pattern.” Queerness is a challenge to that model. Queer and trans people are a threat to that power system, which the right wing wants you to think of as the natural order of society, but very much isn’t.
Most recently, the current administration has announced the removal of access to the LGBTQ+ suicide prevention hotline. Removing this access for a community that has high rates of suicide (it is the leading cause of death for the LGBTQ+ community) is a signal that this administration has strong desires for the queer community to struggle. People who need this hotline will now have to pivot to another source, such as the Trevor Project’s hotline.
This fear tactic is a way to alarm our communities, to show that the far right has a vested interest in our suffering and deaths. However, the history of Pride shows us that before the government came to accept our identities, we had ways of communing and taking care of one another. Community care has been long since a tenet of our community, and while these attacks are worrisome, we have had the resilience to get through them before and we will again.
Currently, there are many ways to resist. Among them include getting involved in local LGBTQ+ organizations. Here is a list of just some of the amazing organizations in Seattle being done to support LGBTQ+ people:
Queer Orgs in Seattle
- Gender Justice League – Trans & nonbinary advocacy, legal reforms, community events including Trans Pride Seattle. Volunteer at Trans Pride or help with campaigns and awareness initiatives—check their site
- Lambert House – Youth center offering social groups, life-skills programming, and community drop-in for LGBTQ+ youth. Apply to volunteer (20-hour training, 1-year commitment), roles include chaperoning, art group, event dinners.
- GenPride – Supports LGBTQ+ older adults with social programs, community hub, wellbeing events. Donate, volunteer at their Capitol Hill hub, attend training, contact via phone/email.
- Gay For Good Seattle – Volunteer-led service projects across Seattle supporting diverse causes—from meal programs to Pride events. Join their email list or attend monthly events; upcoming volunteer projects include food prep and Pride event support.
- PFLAG Seattle – Peer support for families/allies; speaker outreach; informational booths; fundraising; communications; helpline & support groups. Register via their volunteer form, attend volunteer training and meetings, choose roles like helpline, events, or communications.
UW Q Center Partners:
- Ingersoll Gender Center – Peer-led support groups, legal/name change aid, advocacy and resource navigation for gender-diverse people since 1977. Use their healthcare provider database, join support groups, or volunteer with outreach/advocacy.
- Seattle’s LGBTQ+ Center (formerly Gay City) – Offers HIV/STI testing, wellness clinics, library & resource hub, peer support, mutual aid pantry, educational events. Fill out their Volunteer Interest Form to join clinic, library, or event teams; flexible shifts available.
Resistance is also about joy and celebration. Just being queer at a time like this means that we face high levels of violence and danger, but in community, we thrive. The queer community has always been about supporting one another and building solidarity, and there is quite a lot of joy in that. For example, most recently, the Q Center held Lavender Graduation, honoring 60+ LGBTQ+ graduates of the University of Washington. We recognize and celebrate these moments because they are so rare in the face of rising conservatism. Taking moments to celebrate the resilience of queer people during Pride month is essential to the continued survival of the community.
LGBTQ+ Luminaries
- Audre Lorde – was a writer and activist known for her explorations of identity, social justice, and the intersection of race, gender, and sexuality. She was a prolific essayist and poet whose works have influenced many modern day revolutionaries like…
- Adrienne Maree Brown – is a prominent writer, activist, facilitator, and doula. She is known for her social justice work, particularly in the areas of emergent strategy, pleasure activism, and transformative justice.
- Sylvia Rivera – Latina trans woman co-founded key LGBTQ+ organizations like STAR, fiercely advocating for the rights of queer and trans people at the forefront of the modern gay liberation movements.
- Todd Gloria – is the 37th Mayor of San Diego, and the city’s first person of color and openly gay mayor. He is Filipino-American and Tlingit. He is known for his focus on affordable housing, homelessness, climate action, and equity.
- Marsha C. Botzer – is a longtime advocate and leader. She founded Seattle’s Ingersoll Gender Center and served on numerous local, national, and international boards, including the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and the World Professional Association for Transgender Health.
- George Bakan – was a pioneering gay rights activist and longtime editor of the Seattle Gay News, known for his decades of leadership in LGBTQ+ advocacy, including organizing AIDS awareness events and national marches.
Queer Reading
- Transgender History by Susan Stryker (non-fiction)
- Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde (non-fiction)
- Emergent Strategy by Adrienne Maree Brown (non-fiction)
- Redefining Realness by Janet Mock (memoir)
- Raising Ryland by Hillary Whittington (memoir)
- Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin (fiction)
- On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong (fiction)
- Don’t Call Us Dead by Danez Smith (poetry)
- The Black Tides of Heaven by JY Yang (poetry)
- The Magic Fish by Trung Le Nguyen (graphic novel)
- Fun Home by Alison Bechdel (graphic novel)
- On A Sunbeam by Tillie Walden
