News & Commentary

This win is important, but the only way to get comprehensive protections for LGBTQ people is to pass the Equality Act.

Decriminalizing sex work improves public health.

Pride has never been just about the parties. To the LGBTQ community, Pride is about staking our place in the world and speaking truth to power. It’s about making clear that we’re here, we belong, and we are resilient — resilient together. As our Trans Justice Campaign Manager LaLa Zannell has said: “For many Black and Brown queer and trans people, gathering in person has always come with a health and safety risk — including from law enforcement, and others who feel they have the right to harm us for simply being who we are … For many of us, this is not the first pandemic that shows the injustices in our health care, economic, and criminal justice systems.”   Whether you’re celebrating Pride 2020 over Zoom, on the phone, or standing six feet apart from your friends donning rainbow masks — the message of Pride remains, and it’s stronger than ever. The history of Pride is rooted in the LGBTQ community responding to police violence and abuse of LGBTQ people and sex workers and those who fought back. This year, we’re showing what Pride means to us with a new Pride 2020 zine that sums up the year in LGBTQ rights, the meaning of pride to our community, profiles of trailblazers in trans rights including Aimee Stephens, and the fight ahead as we tackle sex work decriminalization, bans on trans athletes, attempts to license discrimination in the name of religon, and more. Plus, you’ll get a crossword, word search, a coloring book page, and more fun, socially distant ways to celebrate pride in 2020. This is how we stay resilient.

Aimee Stephens, a trailblazer in trans rights, passed away in her home this week at the age of 59. Together, we sued for discrimination after Aimee was fired from her job for being transgender. When Aimee decided to fight back, she just wanted it to be acknowledged that what happened to her was wrong. She ended up making history by bringing the Supreme Court its first trans civil rights case. Aimee died before the Court issued a decision on her case, but the fight for trans rights continues in her honor.

Trans people and LGBTQ people of color are disproportionately impacted by our criminal justice system. These experiences are not comparable to social isolation.

Evan Minton sued Dignity Health after his medical treatment was cancelled because he is transgender. Now he has shared his story with Congress.

Another federal appeals court has ruled that protecting transgender students from discrimination does not hurt cisgender students or violate federal law.

Legislation includes bills criminalizing gender transition, forced gender testing of student athletes, and other attacks on trans youth.

This discriminatory treatment has no place in Florida or anywhere across the United States. This lawsuit does not ask for special treatment. It asks Florida to provide equal treatment to all its employees.