Pride vs. Prejudice: The Fight for 2SLGBTQIA+ Rights Continues
A few thoughts about Pride 2025 and our continued struggle for rights
Pride 2025
(Note: dual-posted as an editorial on Wendy the Druid’s site thistleandmoss.com. I’m her editor, if you didn’t know. She and our team write about a number of issues, particularly scathing political news & commentary from a progressive viewpoint.)
Yesterday, this bisexual transgender woman attended the second day of Denver Pride (here’s a gallery I made for TikTokand Instagram) One thing I love about this city is that the entire month fills up with Pride activities, not just the official events.
There’s been joy. There’s been parties. There’s been drag shows. There’s been art of all forms, including poetry by yours truly (link below). I talked to several people yesterday who were attending Pride for the first time because they were supporting their kids (including their adult children) who recently came out or because they are newly out or because they hope to come out soon or because they want to be more active allies.
2025 has been a rough year for the queer community, especially for trans people (more on that below). Thankfully, people are stepping up to the fight. Pride is both a protest and a celebration, and that dual purpose was apparent at both the parade and the festival. Here are a few pics I took:
The last photo is a little difficult to read because of lighting and a tree branch: it’s the Colorado Supreme Court Building, and the words read “Liberty and Justice for All.” That’s why we do Pride. That’s also why queer people have been highly involved in No Kings and anti-illegal renditions by ICE protests.
Prejudice 2025
Trump, the GOP, and their Christian nationalist backers have doubled down on their crusade against 2SLGBTQIA+ this year. They’ve convinced themselves that they won the election because of their anti-queer—especially anti-trans—views instead of the real reason, that the Democratic Party is full of feckless cowards who can’t even score the easiest layups against those scoundrels.
No matter the reasons, the consequences are real. Trump essentially declared transgender people unpersons with one of his first Executive Orders. Since then, his Secretary of State has implemented policies to bar trans people from obtaining correct passports (a policy that continues despite court orders), and he’s gone after trans people in sports and gender affirming care for trans youth. And more.
Pride Month itself has included some horrible news for our community. The U.S. Supreme Court bought into lies about gender affirming care and allowed red states to block GAC for youth (which they’ll try to expand to adults), and they determined that whiny Christian nationalist parents can control the curriculum that schools teach—essentially censoring LGBTQ+ stories.
All through Pride Month, I’ve heard the usual deflections:
wHaT rIgHtS hAvE yOu LoSt? Go to translegislation.com and read the 116 anti-LGBTQ bills have passed this year, you intellectually dishonest chucklefucks.
What about the veterans? I care about all veterans, including the transgender service members who Cadet Bonespurs booted from the military and fucking blacklisted.
But it’s Men’s Mental Health Month! It seems like conservatives just discovered that observance this year, and I wrote about it a couple weeks ago here.
This brief of prejudice this year barely scratches the surface. Those who oppose our rights have been pursuing a full-court press.
Pride Forever
Personally, I needed Pride. Maybe more this year than ever. I needed to be surrounded by, and in community with, other queer people, and being together reinvigorated me. Next month, the spotlight won’t be as colorful, but the struggle for our rights carries on.
The side of prejudice is throwing everything at us, and they have won some battles, but we are stronger because we know who we are. We are stronger because we believe in goodness, bodily autonomy, freedom, and justice. Prejudice wants to take us back to a pre-Stonewall world, but Pride will prevail. Pride will prevail.