At the beginning of Pride Month, the U.S. is facing increased violence from 268 mass shootings thus far in 2023 with 17,769 gun deaths, the leading cause of childhood death, in the same time period. Conservatives in the legislatures claim that nothing can be done while they have proposed at least 520 anti-LBBTQ+ laws in 2023 and banned at least 1477 books. Over 220 bills target transgender and non-binary people. The 50 anti-LGBTQ laws thus far enacted in 2023 ban gender-affirming care for transgender youth, misgendering of transgender students, and drag performances while censoring school curriculum and creating a license to discriminate.
In the mid-20th century, a person could be arrested if they weren’t wearing three articles of clothing of the gender they were assigned at birth. The “three-article law” wasn’t on the books, but police used it anyway until the 1969 Stonewall protests when police moved to an anti-masquerade “law.”
The GOP culture war is returning to the “good old days” as “model” legislation (aka identical wording from conservative groups writing bills for state legislatures). Laws from at least 12 states in several of their 25 bills banning or restricting drag performances criminalize “any transvestite [sic] and/or transgender exposure, performances or display” by people exhibiting “a gender identity different” from the person’s gender assigned at birth. If the definition becomes law, trans people cannot even sing karoke in a bar. Arizona’s bill would target Drag Queen Story Hour, when drag performers read to children at public libraries, by removing state funds.
The most aggressive anti-LGBTQ+ states include Florida, North Dakota, Tennessee, and Texas with Missouri and Montana not far behind. U.S. people, however, don’t agree with this legislation: 64 percent of likely voters—including 55 percent of Republicans—think there is “too much legislation” aimed at “limiting the rights of transgender and gay people in America.” Majorities also oppose bans on gender affirming care, drag performances, and LGBTQ+ content within schools in their states.
Legislation, both failed and passed, gives more hope. The Louisiana Senate failed to pass a House bill banning gender-affirming medical care for youths by one vote in the Health & Welfare Committee. That one vote was cast by a Republican, a pharmacist in rural Louisiana who believes in “the physician-patient relationship.” Unfortunately, the committee moved the bill to the Judiciary Committee, keeping it on life support. The Democratic governor has not said whether he will sign the bill if it survives. Medicaid data shows only a few dozen Louisiana minors received gender-affirming care, including hormones and puberty blockers, between 2017 and 2021 and no minors received gender-affirming surgeries. Under the age of 18, children in the state must have parental permission for any gender-affirming healthcare.
At least 18 states have enacted laws restricting or prohibiting gender-affirming care for minors. A federal judge has temporarily blocked the ban in Arkansas, the first state to prohibit this healthcare. A federal judge appointed by former Dictator Donald Trump (DDT) declared Tennessee’s anti-drag law unconstitutional on the basis of freedom of speech and discrimination. The decision covers only two Tennessee countries. Tennessee was the first state to block drag performances.
In contrast, Michigan became the first state in three years to pass comprehensive anti-discrimination protections for sexual orientation and gender identity, becoming the 18th state to have these laws. The new legislation forbids discrimination in housing, employment, and public accommodation within businesses, government buildings, and educational facilities.
Other countries are exhibiting LGBTQ+ acceptance. Mexico issued its first non-binary passport last month in honor of International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia, May 17. Over a dozen countries, including the U.S. starting in April 2022, permit national non-binary documents. Latvia, once part of the Soviet Union, has elected the European Union’s first openly gay president. The country of 1.9 million people ranks among the worst places in Europe to be an LGBTQ+ citizen in lack of legal rights.
Businesses are struggling with harassment and violence from people in their store and making decisions unpopular with both sides. Target, for example, has backed down on the placement, and in some cases the sale, of Pride products which has not satisfied conservatives and has offended LGBTQ+ people and their allies. One of the more rabid anti-LGBTQ+ activists, Matt Walsh, summarized the conservative goal to erase rights and support for LGBTQ+ people and perhaps erase their visibility: “The goal is to make ‘pride’ toxic for brands.”
The high visibility of protests advocating discrimination of LGBTQ+ school policies, civil rights, and advertising belies preferences of people in the U.S. A survey of non-LGBTQ+ adults found that 96 percent believe schools should be safe places for LGBTQ+ students, 91 think that LGBTQ+ people should live a life free from discrimination, 84 percent support equal rights for LGBTQ+ people, and 70 percent believe companies should publicly support the LGBTQ+ community through inclusive policies, advertising, and sponsorships.
Thumbing its nose at Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Disney released a Twitter drag show with an historical perspective of Bugs Bunny’s decades of crossdressing since 1939. Disney also hired a drag queen greeter at Disneyland in California and invited drag queen Nina West to the world premiere of its new live-action version of The Little Mermaid. (Conservatives are also offended by the highly popular movie because a Black woman was cast in the part of the mermaid.) DeSantis has repeatedly attacked Disney with punitive laws since the company declared its opposition to DeSantis’ “ don’t say gay” laws for schools. Last month, the animated TBS series American Dad! celebrated drag “herstory” in its 350th episode by naming the alien character Roger as a “drag icon.”
Twitter owner Elon Musk has taken the opposite tactic by sharing great quantities of anti-trans content. He apologized for the deletion of Walsh’s “What Is a Woman” film pushing trans intolerance and made the movie available for those who followed The Daily Wire. Musk then shared the video himself with the recommendation, “Every parent should watch this.” His trans daughter has separated herself from her father and changed her name.
The L.A. Dodgers baseball has flipflopped twice, initially after backlash to its original decision to invited the famous “Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence,” the San-Francisco-founded international “drag nun” activist group famous for its community charitable efforts, to the team’s 10th annual LGBTQ+ Pride Night on June 16. The team is giving the Community Hero Award to the group. After homophobic Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) joined other groups to complain, the Dodgers “disinvited” the Sisters but received widespread scorn. The L.A. LGBT Center, L.A. Pride, and the local ACLU affiliate all withdrew from the event. The Dodgers responded with an apology and a new invitation, promising to “better educate ourselves.” L.A. Pride has returned to the event.
The Sisters of Perpetual is devoted “to community service, ministry, and outreach to those on the edges, and to promoting human rights, respect for diversity and spiritual enlightenment,” according to their mission statement. According to their statement, they are “not anti-Catholic, but an organization based on love, acceptance, and celebrating human diversity.” They said they dress as nuns to counteract the Catholic Church’s rejection of LGBTQ+ people and other marginalized individuals, especially during the HIV epidemic when the Sisters ministered and fundraised for the sick. The statement added that “children are at less risk in the company of drag queens than clergy.” Currently, the Sisterhood has worked to address homelessness, especially among transgender youth.
Conservatives are even intimidating the military with a ban on drag performances. The shows cost taxpayers nothing; they were privately funded. The GOP philosophy is to keep violent white supremacists in others who also steal and leak classified information but refuse entertainment from law-abiding people. Drag shows have a century-long history in the military; during World War II, the Armed Services publishing information of how to hold these. Republicans are the founders of the “cancel culture.” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s official statement:
“This Pride Month, we honor the service, commitment, and sacrifice of the LGBTQ+ Service members and personnel who volunteer to defend our country. Their proud service adds to America’s strength.”
Just not in drag.
Teens are making a difference. In Walla Walla (WA), a high school junior met with about 40 peers at a student-run social justice club to develop strategies for school library book challenges from community members. They attended a school board meeting in December but felt they were ignored. Collecting $3,500 from a GoFundMe campaign, the girl worked with a local bookseller to buy 40 copies of four different frequently banned titles in the U.S. They gave away the books, and some of recipients discussed them at banned-book meetings. The challenges failed, and student representatives are now included on review committees.
Brooklyn Public Library’s teen focus group Books Unbanned discusses books banned in other parts of the U.S. The library’s Intellectual Freedom Teen Council meets monthly to discuss book challenges in the news, talk about the members favorite banned books, and strategize ways to support and engage with teen activists through the country. It also helped planned the four-part virtual Freedom to Read Advocacy Institute, open to all teens in the country, that addressed intellectual freedom as it pertains to banned books.
High school senior Shiva Rajbandhri successfully ran for the Boise (ID) school board, defeating a hardline conservative campaigning to remove books from the libraries. He said:
“Books create a safe space in the lives of people who don’t have one otherwise.”
These are just a few of the students who protest book removals by writing letters to the editor, posting on social media, speaking at school board meetings, and forming banned-book clubs. They may save the United States.