Happy pride month! This marks 12 posts since I started this blog (which is only notable because I've kept up with my "at least one post a month" goal) and the 27th of June marks the first year anniversary. I'm actually pretty proud of myself; I really struggle to do anything with any consistency, so to have been consistent about THIS... yeah I'm pretty happy. A bit proud of myself, too.
There is so much negativity in the world. If you're anything like me, you're terrified about all the things going on. Bodily autonomy is under threat for trans people at the very least, and many other human rights at risk otherwise. Not to mention the... I don't even want to talk about the other stuff. I can't. I will say this: free Palestine and also if you are taking this opportunity to be antisemetic you are a piece of shit. Cool? Cool.
So, with all the bad... I'd like to share some good news. Specifically, since it's June (happy pride!), I'm going to share some good news about queer topics. There's gonna be a bit of a focus on trans stuff, but whatever happy queer news I can find on the internet I'm going to share. With sources!
To start off our good news, here's a recent story: Florida SB254 is ruled unconstitutional. Court Listener has the document and transcript itself, and then you can go to the New York Times or Southern Legal for more details and in a more digestible format. Florida SB254 heavily restricted transgender healthcare, particularly for under-18s and preventing non-doctors from writing prescriptions for hormones. It specifically ruled against sections 1, 3, and 5. There will be an appeal, and more will happen with regards to this case, but this is still a huge win.
While I'm side-eying beauty pageants and judging them heavily, the current state of them is still really cool at the moment. Miss Maryland USA has been won by an Asian American trans woman for the first time. She's also the first military spouse to win, while we're here. Other beauty pageants are also becoming more inclusive - Miss Nevada in 2021 was Kataluna Enriquez, a trans woman, and in 2018 she was the first trans woman to compete int he national Miss USA pageant. We have trans women winning Miss Portugal and Miss Netherlands. Miss Universe has even had a trans woman competitor. More than just being trans, a lot of the USA-centric pageants have had more racial diversity as well. I will never like pageants. Child pageants are a crime against humanity. But the fact that that trans women are competing and even winning in these pageants means that people's perspectives are changing. Maybe next up we'll start seeing people chill about sports.
There's also a bill being introduced into the US Senate by Representatives Becca Balint and Lizzie Fletcher to help protect LGBTQ+ indiviudals from being discriminated against in jury duty. This was a part of the Equality Act in 2021 as well, but didn't pass then. Still, it's encouraging to see it be picked up again, especially after the anti-LGBTQ+ pushback in 2023 with the huge amount of anti-LGBTQ+ bills both proposed and passed.
Looks like there's going to be an out trans person in congress. Sarah McBride has no major competitors, and seems to be in place be the first transgender congresswoman. At 33 years old, she's fairly young for the position, too. It's going to be interesting to see how anti-LGBTQ+ individuals react to dealing with a trans person face to face. I, for one, am hopeful that at least some minds will be changed when confronted with the fact that trans people are actual individuals and not a horrible scary monolith.
San Francisco is among the first in a hopefully large wave of US cities to declare itself as a sanctuary city for transgender folks. It's largely symbolic, but it also means transgender people - particularly trans kids - can come here to safely receive care. With other cities in the US taking children away from parents for -checks notes- changing their pronouns, clothing, and hair style, it's a relief to know there's some places filled to the brim with people who care.
A couple of smaller news stories: the Silver Lake neighborhood in Los Angeles is removing signs originally placed up to discriminate against gays and a Denver community threw a wedding for two Venezuelan women after they crossed dangerous territory to make their way to the U.S.. They may be about smaller communities, but these are small communities in major cities - and any change is good change.
Back to big news, there are now federal guidelines banning discrimination against trans people at work. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has, for the first time in 25 years, instituted new rules on workplace discrimination. There are also new guidelines for pregnant and remote workers, which is just an extra benefit all around. These aren't laws, perse, but they are a step in the right direction.
I heavily relied on the 'good news' section of LGBTQ Nation and on the LGBTQ+ section on GoodGoodGood, and I struggled a bit to find more recent news. Google gave me things from different years, and I was looking for late 2023 or anything in 2024. But there are good things out there! It's not all hope lost!
As a final little note... the L.A. Times with NORC conducted a huge survey about queer issues. In 1985, 72% of American said sexual relations between adults of the same sex were always wrong. 64% would be upset if their child were gay. 51% wanted laws protecting gay and lesbian people from job discrimination. In 2024, those numbers are 28%, 14%, and 77%, respectively. Those are huge jumps! You can read the full numbers here. It also links to NORC and a digital version fo the original 1985 article. Warning on the article for some... well, they take a story of a nonbinary child and their parent, to give the article a personal touch and emphasize things. They discuss bluntly the discrimination and issues the child faces.
Things are improving. The world is not ending. And there are people who fully love and support the LGBTQ+ community. We're gonna be okay, guys.
Happy Pride. Whether you're in the closet or out and proud or somewhere in between, I hope your rainbow stays bright. You are wonderful and perfect exactly as you are.