[This column appears in the May/June 2024 print issue of Boston Spirit magazine. Subscribe for free today.]
What’s on the horizon in the fight for LGBTQ+ equality?
As we begin the search for GLAD’s next executive director, we asked staff and board members, “What’s on the horizon in the fight for LGBTQ+ equality?” Please share your thoughts with us too, at glad.org/horizon!
Lee Swislow, board
The right-wing attack on libraries and use of censorship creates an atmosphere in which LGBTQ+ people—particularly young and BIPOC LGBTQ+ people—feel unsafe and unseen. We need to ally with other communities under siege to fight these attacks.
Polly Crozier, director of family advocacy
We face tremendous challenges. We still must secure legal protections for all our families, and there are those who want to stop LGBTQ+ people from building families, marrying or being full participants in our communities. We must hold the line against new efforts to regulate fertility and family-building that harm women, people of color, low-income people, LGBTQ+ people and people with disabilities. We’re working alongside other movements towards common goals of dignity, reproductive justice and autonomy.
Jennifer Levi, senior director of transgender and queer rights
Important rights to health care and education are under attack. We’re working through the courts and policy to ensure that robust, accessible transgender health care continues to exist for everyone who needs it. And we are partnering with youth and families to ensure schools are supportive and that LGBTQ+ students are welcome in all educational and extracurricular programming.
Sarah Kaplan, board
It’s going to get worse before it gets better. People opposing our rights are fighting everywhere—at the Supreme Court, school boards, legislatures and corporations. We must meet them where they are, which requires an escalating amount of resources—lawyers, staff, communicators, organizers and cash. Everyone should care about these fights—extremists are attacking the most marginalized and least defended first, but they’re coming for nearly everyone. I’m proud that GLAD is at the vanguard of protecting everyone’s rights to liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
Braedyn Dorn, public education assistant
It’s important to make sure LGBTQ+ folks understand what’s happening across the country. It can be difficult to follow where new anti-LGBTQ+ bills are moving and where we are in the complex legal framework to fight back. Through education, we can quell people’s fears so everyone, whether or not they have a law degree or political knowledge, feels empowered to act by voting, contacting their legislators and understanding their rights.
Abbie Buchwald, intern
Education and resources for voters are incredibly important. Many in my generation, Gen Z, don’t know where to begin when it comes to local elections but are using our voices on social media and in the streets to support equal rights for all. If this passion is reflected in local elections, it’s likely to spread nationally, and LGBTQ+ leaders can build off that voting power.
Gabrielle Hamel, public information manager
As the rights of LGBTQ+ folks are challenged, we need to center trans and BIPOC leadership. Following the lead of people whose liberation has always been most in question and who have had to, in order to survive and thrive, navigate systems of oppression their whole lives is vital to securing freedom for all.
Bennett Klein, senior director of litigation and HIV law
LGBTQ+ rights are fundamentally a challenge to deeply entrenched attitudes about gender and gender nonconformity. Even after the stunning achievement of a right to marry nationwide a decade ago, it was clear we still had work to do to reach a deep embrace of LGBTQ+ existence in our society. As the spread of disinformation and anti-LGBTQ+ political attacks accelerate, we must double down on working toward understanding and acceptance of our full humanity and full expression.
Dallas Ducar, board
To uphold our country’s foundational principles of freedom and equality, we must champion the voices and rights of transgender folks with unwavering determination. This means ensuring every individual has access to necessary medical care and legal protections nationwide and fostering understanding so that every person can live authentically and safely. It demands collective action to create a future where dignity and fulfillment are accessible to all.
More: glad.org
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