This year’s Pride festivals are different than in past years when the LGBTQ+ community was being pummeled. This time, the gay community is being attacked from every angle imaginable: from anti-LGBTQ+ legislation to anti-trans attacks, book bans, attempts at reversing gay marriage, eviscerating gay civil rights protections, and state and federal defunding or terminating programs that serve the gay community.
The gay community is no different from any other community. Its members exhibit all the same human characteristics by which everyone else can be described. But, due to some very misguided and fearful people who are also quite vocal, the gay community has been the perennial scapegoat upon which the straight community has projected their own foibles and failings. Typical human behavior.
There are many rationalizations proffered as to why gay people should be put down. They are all bogus narratives based on mindboggling ignorance, purposeful misinformation and falsehoods, baseless and irrational fears, and insidious religious and political agendas focused on power and control.
For many in the gay community, this is nothing new. What is new is the tremendous effort being put forth to deny gay people as human beings with all the rights and privileges as anyone else.
- In 2024, the ACLU tracked 533 anti-LGBTQ+ bills in the US
- The FBI reported in 2024 that more than 1 in 5 hate crimes is now motivated by anti-LGBTQ+ bias
- The Trevor Project reports that 49% of LGBTQ+ young people experience bullying
There is so much more that isn’t reported — the everyday incidents experienced in our families, neighborhoods and communities, in our schools, businesses, clubs, churches, and service organizations. It’s all having a seriously negative effect on those who are the targets of such discrimination and hate.
- Lambda Legal reports that 33% of all homeless youth are LGBTQ+
- The Trevor Project estimates that at least one young person (age 13–24) attempts suicide every 45 seconds
- The American Psychiatric Association reports that approximately 31% of older LGBTQ+ adults report depressive symptoms and 39% report serious thoughts of suicide.
The struggle to keep one’s head up and to continue planning for a positive future is very real. Every day, news headlines report yet more actions against the gay community, ranging from legislation and policies to discrimination and violence. There is only one way to combat this tsunami, and that’s to stand up to it. To do that, though, requires that the LGBTQ+ community come together in solidarity.
It’s easy enough to state that solidarity is what’s needed, but another thing to enact and live it. The consequences of resisting persecution can be loss of career, home, family, business, and life. But there are organizations in place to provide services and protections against the constant attacks being leveled at the gay community.
- Lambda Legal has been working tirelessly for over fifty years to protect LGBTQ+ rights “through impact litigation, education programs, and public policy advocacy.”
- The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has fought since 1936 “to end discrimination, harassment and violence toward transgender people, to close gaps in our federal and state civil rights laws, to prevent protections against discrimination from being undermined by a license to discriminate, and to protect LGBTQ people in and from the criminal legal system.”
- There are over 1,700 LGBTQ+ rights organizations in the US.
- Over 250 LGBTQ+ centers can be found across the US that provide a wide range of health and wellbeing services, as well as resources for addressing all facets of one’s life.
Over the decades, the gay community has withstood many religious and political attacks, as well as the devastation that AIDS brought. The gay community has rallied over and over to rise above and to survive and thrive despite such challenges. Since 1970, Gay Pride celebrations have been one way in which to combat anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment, violence, and injustice.
Many believe that Pride today exists simply to get one’s “party hearty” on. Though that’s an obvious aspect of Pride, the annual event is far more than that. It’s a celebration of uniqueness, of overcoming oppression — it’s needed as a symbol and reminder that the gay community cannot be put down, dismissed, ignored, or destroyed.
It’s taken years of concerted legal, personal, and community effort to move the needle on gay rights in the US. And there is still much work to be done to ensure every LGBTQ+ person feels safe, supported, equal, and an integral member of the larger society. For that to occur, solidarity is required. Those trying hard to extinguish LGBTQ+ people are counting on the gay community to cower in fear and return to the proverbial closet. That’s not going to happen!
For one thing, the gay community is growing because more and more people are finally coming out and choosing to be their authentic selves despite all the attacks and fearmongering. The Williams Institute reported in 2023 that 5.5% of adults in the US identify as LGBTQ+, which equates to 13.9 million adults. Since then, the percentage has risen to 9.3%.
Contrary to the negative reportage about the gay community, there is an acceleration of LGBTQ+ acceptance in the US. The “Accelerating Acceptance 2025 Report” from the non-profit organization Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) provided these uplifting facts:
- About three in five non-LGBTQ+ adults (61%) say they are supportive of the gay community, totaling nearly 150 million people.
- More than seven in ten non-LGBTQ+ adults say that if someone close to them told them they were LGBTQ+, they would support them.
- 91% of non-LGBTQ+ US adults agree that parents should support and love their children exactly as they are.
- 79% of non-LGBTQ+ adults believe schools should be safe and accepting places for LGBTQ+ students.
- 74% of non-LGBTQ+ US adults support equal rights for the LGBTQ+ community.
What this obviously shows is that solidarity needs to include not just the LGBTQ+ community but all its allies. A community operating only within their own societal silo is working against themselves. So, it pays to be social — and on a grand scale. And that’s Pride!
The primary reason Pride exists is that it has survived extraordinary odds and continues to survive despite ongoing attempts to suppress, demonize, and even extinguish everything gay. But there is one thing the LGBTQ+ community is, and that’s resilient, and creative, innovative, full of energy, and full of heart.
Former president Barack Obama said, “When all Americans are treated as equal, no matter who they are or whom they love, we are all freer.” And that’s why Pride is so important.
Being who we truly and authentically are is not only a gift to ourselves individually and to the LGBTQ+ community, but a gift to all of humanity. Some will see that and join the celebration, and others will run and hide. Let’s all keep working to include everyone despite their dislike and fear of the gay community. Let’s rise above and show them a higher, brighter, and more loving vision — in solidarity.
