I type these words with a mixture of feelings; joy, trepidation, frustration, anger, sadness and possibly a little bit of hope. June is the time of year we come together in the LGBTQIA+ community to celebrate who we are, who we love, who we want to become, and the future we want to have for ourselves. We also remember a very horrible day when we lost people in our community who only wanted to dance and celebrate life. It hurts to see that our community seems to be under attack more than ever.

Frustration and Anger

In 2026, the ACLU is currently tracking 530 anti-LGBTQ bills in the U.S. Many of these bills target transgender youth claiming to “protect the children”. Whether it’s a law banning trans youth from receiving health care, using restrooms appropriate to their gender expression, to banning them from playing sports on the team that aligns with their gender representation. From the other end of the education spectrum teachers are being forbidden from discussing LGBT+ topics, providing resources, and education. The only thing these kinds of bills really do is increase the rates of suicides in LGBT+ youth.

Trepidation and Sadness

For adults in addition to healthcare bans, the laws trying to be passed include bans on drag expression, barriers to accurate ID’s, limitations to public accommodations in restrooms, and more. We’ve seen the current regime force the use of assigned sex at birth gender markers on passports, the attempt to ban transgender people from serving in the military, and ban the use of the rainbow flag at the Stonewall National Monument. Living in Texas as a non-binary person with a transgender partner, we are both fearful of people in our local neighborhood, of going out to restaurants, shopping for appropriate clothing, and frankly just existing safely. We both fear the potential repeal of the Respect for Marriage Act as do many of our married friends. With the complete attack on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the government and many corporate workplaces, there are concerns about our ability to obtain jobs.

Clarity

There’s an incredibly important thing going on here that I think a lot of people are missing though. These laws boil down to one simple thing – an attack on every LGBT+ person’s bodily autonomy. Now you might be thinking, “Hang on a minute! I thought bodily autonomy is only about health stuff and a women’s right to choose?” Let’s take a deeper dive into what bodily autonomy means.

The simplest and best definition of bodily autonomy I like is from MSI United States. It states, “Bodily autonomy is defined as the right to make decisions about your own body, life, and future, without coercion or violence.” So in a narrow sense, yes it is about health stuff and a woman’s right to choose. It’s also about so much more than that.

A Glimmer of Hope

Were you aware that fourteen of the twenty-seven amendments in the Bill of Rights in the U.S. are about bodily autonomy and the Second Amendment gives you the right to defend your bodily autonomy? It’s not solely about a woman’s right to choose, that is one important part of it. It’s about so much more!

• A person’s right to define their gender identity and presentation, publicly, in their official documentation and the protections therein.
• The right to define who and how a person loves and marries
• The freedom to perform artistically through gender (drag performance)
• The right to obtain appropriate healthcare to align gender with sex
• The right to not be persecuted for changing gender

I would like to have the option to change my passport to non-binary and it be respected. Sometime in the future I would love to perform a marriage (I’m legally a minister) as a drag king for a gay couple during Pride month. Tell me that wouldn’t be awesome! I want that gay couple to be able to adopt children just like anyone who is heterosexual.

I want my partner to have the ability to align her body with her gender, physically and legally without the fear of persecution. We are discussing getting married. We want the opportunity to get married without being persecuted or challenged.

We want to be there for trans kids in our greater community. To help teach them that exploring gender is perfectly normal. Giving them and their parents the guidance to navigate the trans journey without fear of legal repercussions or accusations of grooming. 

Bodily autonomy affects every marginalized community. It is up to us, the members of the LGBTQIA+ community to continue to fight for our rights that guarantee our bodily autonomy and its safety. It’s our responsibility to tell people who would strip us of these rights that we will not be silent, we will not just lie down and die for them, and we will not be erased from history. So as you attend your local Pride celebrations, remember that. Remember that the first Pride was a riot to protect the bodily autonomy for generations to come.

Happy Pride!