Pride and Progress

ShopTYT has everything you need to show your support for equal rights at your favorite Pride events and gatherings this month. But before we show off our wonderful wares, let’s not forget that the LGBTQIA+ community is under attack. In the United States alone, there are as many as 515 proposed bills that directly target this community. But all is not lost. This Pride, let’s take a moment to celebrate some of our recent victories in the fight to secure human rights for all. 

In 2023, five new countries have decriminalized consensual same-sex relations. Antigua, Barbados, Sri Lanka, Singapore, and St. Kitts/Nevis have all shaken off the shackles of their outdated colonial laws. Now their citizens have equal access to privacy and protection under their constitutions. Although these laws were rarely enforced in the modern age, allowing them to exist can create an environment where discrimination is legal. We applaud them for taking this big step forward for justice and for the greater cause of LGBTQIA+ liberation. 

Here in the States, we’ve had some developments of our own. Last Pride, Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs signed an executive order that put an end to the abusive and traumatic practice of conversion therapy. Conversion therapy is a means in which people attempt to change a person’s sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression. The whole practice is based on easily disproved junk science and we look forward to a day where it doesn’t exist in any state or nation.

This year Governor Gretchen Whitmer passed the Michigan Family Protection Act. This act extends legal protection to LGBTQIA+ families. In the past, LGBTQIA+ families were saddled with an unnecessary and expensive process to secure documentation confirming their parental status. Now these families’ rights and relationships with their children are assured.

Maine has become a sanctuary state for transgender individuals and abortion providers. LD 227, also known as the “Shield Bill,” protects these two groups from out-of-state prosecution. Governor Janet Mills advocated for the bill in hopes that Main would become a pro-equality and pro-reproductive choice state. A place where people were free to pursue reproductive and gender-affirming care as it is needed.

Finally, let’s loop back to those scary 515 proposed anti-LGBTQIA+ bills from the beginning. There’s some good news hidden here too. From Georgia to Florida and beyond, many of the disgusting bigoted bills have failed to pass. It may seem like progress is slow (and sometimes it is), but we are winning. Change is coming and it’s happening all around us. The LGBTQIA+ community deserves equal rights and TYT is here to push for positive change and fight for those rights.