Somewhere Over the Rainbow
Dear Leading Ladies,
We are nearing the ending of Pride Month, another celebration we wish we did not need. Like Black History Month and Women’s History Month, Pride Month recognizes the contributions and worthiness of a segment of our population that has, for too long and in too many ways, been overlooked. But Pride Month also commemorates the years of struggle for civil rights and equal justice for the LGBTQ+ community. Would that the civil rights of all LGBTQ+ people were protected. Would that all LGBTQ+ youth felt safe in their schools and communities. Would that LGBTQ+ were welcome in all houses of worship, retail establishments, health facilities, and families.
But, alas, that is not yet true.
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Why is Pride Month in June?
Although the fight for LGBTQ+ civil rights in the US began in the 1920s, the movement found its strength following the events at the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village in June of 1969. “In the early morning hours of June 28, police raided this popular gathering place for young members of the LGBTQ+ community—arresting the employees for selling liquor without a license, roughing up many of the patrons, and clearing the bar,” according to Brittanica.com.
This wasn’t the first time that patrons and employees of New York bars frequented by gay men and women had been harassed by the police. But for the first time, people outside reacted. The crowd grew to over 400 and morphed into five days of riots that are credited as “the spark that ignited the LGBTQ rights movement in the United States.” The Stonewall riots (also called the Stonewall uprising) were clearly a turning point for the LGBTQ+ Movement in the US.
By November of 1969, the idea of marches for Gay Pride had been proposed for the last week in June to commemorate the Stonewall Riots. Marches quickly became commonplace in cities throughout the country, generally on the last Sunday in June. What started as “somber occasions evolved into joyous celebrations,” Brittanica.com notes.
“In time, the day expanded to become a month-long event. It was officially recognized by the U.S. government when President Bill Clinton declared June 1999 “Gay and Lesbian Pride Month,” President Barack Obama proclaimed June to be “LGBT Pride Month,” and President Joe Biden further expanded the observance to “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ+) Pride Month.” The acronym has expanded even further in many communities to LGBTQIA+, which includes Intersex and Asexual people as we learn new terminology and expand our understanding of the gender and sexual spectrum.
What about today?
The climate has certainly changed in the last 55 years. Prominent politicians, lawyers, doctors, businessmen, artists, performers are out and accepted. Pete Buttigieg is our Secretary of Transportation; Ellen Degeneres’s sexual orientation is old news; Jonathon Groff, the star of Merrily We Roll Along on Broadway thanked his husband at his Tony acceptance speech; Drag Queen story hours are common fare at public libraries; the governor of Massachusetts, Maura Healey, is an out lesbian; and the list goes on. Certainly, the Northeast and West Coast are further along in promotion of LGBTQIA+ rights and acceptance than other areas of the country, but even elsewhere the progress since 1969 is impressive.
So much further to go
But all is not rosy. The ACLU is tracking 523 anti-LGBTQIA+ bills in the US, including 16 in New Hampshire and even two in Massachusetts (both regarding curriculum censorship). A record number of bills in different states attack the rights of transgender youth. Many propose allowing the use of religion to discriminate.
Pending bills cover a range of areas: bans on preferred gender identification; free speech and expression censorship, such as for drag queen performers; healthcare restrictions, particularly for transgender people; public accommodations restrictions; student and educator rights restrictions, such as forced outing by teachers and school staff or curriculum censorship; civil rights restrictions; and others such as same-sex marriage restrictions.
According to a Washington Post article that analyzed FBI data in March 2024, “School hate crimes targeting LGBTQ+ people have sharply risen in recent years, climbing fastest in states that have passed laws restricting LGBTQ+ student rights and education.” Furthermore, “In states with restrictive laws, the number of hate crimes on K–12 campuses has more than quadrupled since the onset of a divisive culture war that has often centered on the rights of LGBTQ+ youth. At the same time, calls to LGBTQ+ youth crisis hotlines have exploded, with some advocates drawing a connection between the political climate and the spike in bullying and hate crimes.”
And let’s be clear. Only half of the states, plus Puerto Rico, Guam, the District of Columbia, and the US Virgin Islands, have statutes that make it illegal to discriminate in the workplace on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. Although Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 made LGBT employment discrimination illegal, it was not until the 2020 Supreme Court decisions in Bostock v. Clayton County and R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes Inc. v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that clarity about the law was established on the federal level. There is to be no discrimination in hiring, in workplace policy, in private or public places of employment—with one caveat. As the ACLU said, “The court held that everyone in every state in the country who works at or applies for a job with an employer that has at least 15 employees is protected under federal law against employment discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.” Full stop.
What happened next?
After the Bostock decision, those who “suffer such discrimination now have the right to file a complaint with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), which will investigate the complaint, seek to resolve it,” according to the ACLU.
In addition, “numerous sexual orientation and gender identity employment discrimination lawsuits that had been dismissed prior to Bostock” were revived. Moreover, more than 250 cases cited Bostock in the two years after the case was decided.
The current administration supports the Supreme Court decision. “On his first day in office, President Biden issued an executive order directing all federal agencies to recognize that existing federal bans on sex discrimination protect against LGBTQ discrimination as well,” according to the ACLU. “The order was a welcome balm after four years under an administration that did not acknowledge Bostock and would not enforce the legal protections that LGBTQ people enjoy under federal law.”
What now?
There has been so much progress since Stonewall. Members of the LBGTQIA+ community are celebrated for their contributions to all facets of our world – the arts, politics, academia, sports, business, and more. Legislation now offers protection from discrimination in housing, employment, and schools.
But we still need Pride Month – to celebrate and to educate, to renew our commitment to fairness and equality, and to honor the accomplishments of many in the LGBTQIA+ community. To Pride Month! To celebrating years of progress! And to the day when we no longer need more laws to protect those in the LGBTQIA+ community.
To learn more about organizations targeting or seeking to protect the LGBTQIA+ community, consult the ACLU, Human Rights Campaign, The Trevor Project, or any number of other social justice organizations.
Therese (she/her/hers)
Judy (she/her/hers)
Didi (she/her/hers)
Leading Ladies Executive Team