Learn Why This Is Important Now

There are many reasons why this is happening today. It starts with displacement and backlash and continues with skewed priorities and money and vote-hungry politicians.

Displacement 

With a global pandemic, economic instability, and racial unrest Trans and Gender Non-Conforming people are being scapegoated and used as cheap shots for political and financial gain. It is easier to demonize a small and vulnerable minority than it is to confront some of the most serious issues facing our times. Many of the politicians advancing anti-LGBTQ legislation don’t even know what it entails and don’t even agree with it, but they support it because they know that it’s lucrative and that fear-mongering gets votes.

Backlash 

With the realization of same-sex marriage in 2015, conservative forces moved their target away from gay and lesbians toward Trans and Gender Non-Conforming people. The problem is that many felt that the LGBTQ movement had achieved equality with the legalization of same-sex marriage. A large percentage of the funding stopped accordingly or went global. This left Trans and Gender Non-Conforming communities particularly vulnerable with little to no infrastructure to respond to the rising wave of intolerance. Despite the fact that Trans and Gender Non-Conforming people experience the brunt of the discrimination, they are least likely to be represented in leadership positions and funding priorities in the LGBTQ sector.

Priorities 

Historically Trans and Gender Non-Conforming people have been marginalized even within the LGBT movement. Leadership in the gay and lesbian movement made strategic decisions to prioritize marriage equality instead of anti-violence work and utilize the rhetoric of “love” and “we’re just like you,” instead of “gender non-conformity” and “it’s okay if we look and act different.” Trans and Gender Non-Conforming people have been thrown under the bus for “rocking the boat” too much, being “too different.” Despite the fact that Pride was started for and by Trans and Gender Non-Conforming communities of color in 1969 at the Stonewall Bar, it’s these very communities who continue to experience the bulk of the discrimination.

Profit 

Politicians who advance anti-LGBTQ legislation continue to receive corporate donations.