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While anti-LGBTQ+ bills are scary, we're doing better than you might think, Senior Manager of State Advocacy at the Trevor Project Gabby Doyle tells The Advocate.
Pride Month may be over, but there's still a lot of victories for the LGBTQ+ community to celebrate.
Out of the over 550 anti-LGBTQ+ bills introduced in 2023, only 80 were passed into law, documented by organizations like the Trevor Project and the American Civil Liberties Union. Just halfway through 2024, just 41 of the 527 anti-LGBTQ+ bills introduced have passed into law.
While those numbers may still seem daunting, it's important to note the low success rate of legislators attempting to pass these laws — or rather, the high success rate of the queer activists working to block them. Furthermore, there are several states that have passed laws protecting LGBTQ+ rights in education and health care so far this year.
"We as a community have been successful in really sharing our experiences and stories with our representatives and local media," Gabby Doyle, Senior Manager of State Advocacy at the Trevor Project, told The Advocate. "We're able to really turn out, and I think advocates have been really successful at ensuring that our voices, our stories, have been really visible, and ensure that folks know that we are here and that we will not quietly let these pieces of legislation pass."
Just this year, Washington and Minnesota have voted to enact inclusive curriculum covering LGBTQ+ history and identity, and Colorado has approved protections for LGBTQ+ students ensuring their identities will be validated and not shared without their permission. Maine, Maryland, and Rhode Island have each also passed shield laws protecting youth's access to gender-affirming care.
A clear divide is present in the United States, as it it largely blue states passing legislation to protect LGBTQ+ people, whereas red states are generally the ones restricting queer rights. Doyle said that is "unfortunate that there are states where these anti LGBTQ bills are successful because of the primary makeup of what the legislature looks like."
"LGBTQ young people, wherever they live, regardless of the political climate, deserve to be supported and affirmed and live in a community that recognizes and celebrates LGBTQ identity," she continued.
However, Doyle noted that red states have become increasingly unsuccessful in passing such laws — Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Nebraska, and South Dakota all ended their legislative sessions this year without passing any anti-LGBTQ+ bills. Doyle credits this to the hard work of advocates in the states, as well as the public's decreasing interest in the topics.
"Even in states where the political makeup may be more conservative, we know that there's vibrant, beautiful, queer communities. In every single state, we know that there's going to be advocates there," she said, adding, "It does signal what is and isn't a winning issue."
Despite the unbalance, it is still the negative stories that seem to get more attention than the positive developments. While Doyle believes it is crucial to understand and pay attention to the legislation impacting the community, she recognized that "it's really easy to feel overwhelmed by just the volume of anti LGBTQ legislation, let alone knowing what bills have been enacted."
"In our national survey for this year, an overwhelming 90 percent of LGBTQ young people reported being negatively impacted by the discussion of recent politics," Doyle said. "So in the inverse is true also, when they see that proactive in affirming legislation is able to be passed, it has a positive impact on their mental health."
Sometimes a step back is necessary, Doyle said, to ground yourself and connect with your community "regardless of what the state tries or what the states enacts in a discriminatory fashion."
"They can't take away that joint community," she said. "It's so essential for us to really focus on ourselves and our mental health. We need to take care of ourselves first, especially when we know we are in this for the long haul. I'm in this for the long haul. And if I'm not nourishing myself and ensuring that I find peace and happiness with my community, I won't be able to continue to do this."
To Doyle, it's important not just to remember the victories, but to also actively celebrate them, as they are worth taking pride in.
"We need to understand what's at stake, but we also need to really pause and celebrate what we have achieved, because the LGBTQ community has played such a huge role in advancing these wins and advocating for their own communities to make them a reality," she said. "And because of these wins, LGBTQ young people across the country will be safer and more affirmed."
