06/03/2025
This year, pride month feels different. As a proud member of the LGBTQ+ community, pride has always meant both celebration and struggle. Throughout our country's history, pride has always been a protest, pride has always been resistance, pride has always been a fight for equality in an unjust world. The Stonewall Riots that gave birth to the modern LGBTQ+ pride movement were an uprising in response to the unapologetic state-sanctioned discrimination and violence against our community. But in my lifetime, pride has also come to be understood by some as a party, parades, a chance for businesses to sell rainbow colored merchandise, and for straight allies to wear their "love is love" shirts.
At this moment in history, however, we are facing a crisis point: the transgender community is being assailed and erased before our very eyes. I am calling upon my fellow LGBQ community members, and our straight/cisgender allies, to name this reality and to meet this moment. This year for pride month, we must put all of our time, effort, and resources into protecting the rights and lives of trans people (and particularly, trans women) -- the community who stepped up for us at Stonewall and beyond, taking on inordinate risks to bring about the modern pride movement. It's our turn to step up.
- Simone Chriss, Director of the Trans Rights Initiative
