Pride month focuses on struggle for LGBTQ+ equality
Anti-trans bathroom bills seek to limit trans people’s access to public spaces.
This Pride Month is a somber reminder that the struggle for LGBTQ+ civil rights is far from over. The politics shaping the current administration have contributed to the rollback of protections for LGBTQ+ Americans. While overall public support for the community remains strong, many of the issues both Black and LGBTQ+ Americans confronted in Trump’s first term — health care, unemployment, housing, immigration, voting rights, among others — are front and center again, and on the chopping block. And the fear is palpable.
Uncoupling marriage equality
Marriage equality, secured through Obergefell v. Hodges, is on the rocks. With this threat looming large, many LGBTQ+ couples are dashing to the altar, fearing what may come. Speaking on the “Raging Moderates” podcast in August 2025, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged LGBTQ+ couples to consider marrying sooner rather than later. “Anybody in a committed relationship in the LGBTQ community ought to consider getting married,” she said, reflecting a growing anxiety about the future of marriage equality in America.
Justice Clarence Thomas has long espoused his opposition to Obergefell v. Hodges. Shortly after the court overturned Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization and ended the federal constitutional right to abortion in 2022, Thomas called for revisiting other landmark rulings. He argued that the court has a duty to “correct the error” of precedents protecting contraception, same-sex intimacy and marriage equality.
Surely, he jests, I thought. The irony is striking: Thomas is in an interracial marriage, which marriage equality is built upon. Many of the civil rights advances that enabled his ascent to the nation’s highest court are now under threat from his judicial philosophy.
Untreated
Gender-affirming care is a lifeline for transgender individuals, providing support that promotes health, well-being and an affirming quality of life. This care encompasses a range of medical, social and psychological interventions that help individuals align their gender identity that differs from the sex they were assigned at birth.
Gender-affirming care may include counseling, hormone therapy, puberty blockers or no medical intervention at all. Major medical organizations support access to gender-affirming care for adults and minors.
However, in 2025 the Supreme Court’s decision in United States v. Skrmetti restricted certain medical treatments for transgender minors. The majority court reasoned that the law classifies individuals on the basis on age and medical procedures rather than sex or transgender status. Gender-affirming surgeries for minors, particularly for children under age 12, is rare.
Misunderstandings of the science, the criminalization and restriction of gender-affirming health care and the stigmatization of transgender people have fueled discrimination, hostility and violence. Especially violence against Black trans women. They are killed disproportionately because of socioeconomic factors due to “transmisogynoir” — the intersections of anti-black violence, cissexism and transphobia. Transmisogynoir contributes to black trans women disproportionately battling higher rates of unemployment, poverty, housing insecurity, suicide, HIV/AIDS, health care disparities, sexual assault, police brutality, incarceration and a life expectancy between 33-35 years.
For example, the 1998 murder of Black transgender woman Rita Hester in the Allston section of Boston became a pivotal moment in transgender history. Hester’s killing inspired the “Remembering Our Dead” Internet project, which later served as the catalyst for the annual International Transgender Day of Remembrance, observed each year on Nov. 20. More than two decades later, her case remains unsolved.
The New Jim Crow
Across the country, a wave of anti-transgender legislation is reshaping access to public space. According to the 2026 Anti-trans Bills Tracker, there are currently 793 anti-trans bills across 43 states (even liberal blue state Massachusetts has introduced five anti-trans bills). Of these measures, 55 have passed, 70 have failed and 668 remain active. Several of these laws impose steep fines and serious legal consequences. These bathroom bills criminalize a routine human need, turning it into what amounts to a “toilet crime.”
Public restrooms were a flashpoint during the Jim Crow era, much as they are now for trans Americans. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed discrimination based on race, color, national origin, sex and religion, mandating the desegregation of public accommodations, including restrooms. Decades later, the Obama administration expanded federal protections to include LGBTQ+ Americans. However, in 2017, Trump’s administration rescinded guidance that had allowed transgender students to use facilities aligned with their gender identity, arguing that existing civil rights law did not explicitly cover gender identity.
Unfulfilled promise
In today’s political climate we are witnessing blatant discrimination against many marginalized Americans. Transgender people have become primary targets of numerous legislative efforts. These policies affect a small but significant portion of the U.S. population — approximately 1% of individuals aged 13 and older — and have raised serious concerns about systemic erasure and deliberate elimination of their fundamental rights.
As our nation marks its 250th anniversary, we are called to reaffirm the promise of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness — not for some, but for us all.