The National is Local
I hope you all had a wonderful week. I just finished the semester and now I am in a grading hole! I look forward to a summer of data analysis. I recently completed a survey where over 1,000 LGBTQIA+ individuals talked about their nonprofit experiences and I am excited to share the results with everyone. But this week, I want to take a break from national and state issues to talk about local issues.
My town’s elections!
I have spoken a lot about the national and state-level news because it’s easiest to talk about, but I want to talk a bit about my town. One thing I love about living in New England is how everyone takes part in local politics. Recently, we had a select board election, which is our city council. Our towns LGBTQIA+ committee had supported one member for reelection, who lost. The facebook group for my town ended up erupting into arguments about whether one of the guys who did win was homophobic (as someone who was not from the town, it was hard to follow the discussion to be honest). at one point, someone said “It’s just a local election. What harm can it do to the gay community?”. That’s an interesting comment because the reality is, a lot. We often forget the power of local government. While there are many discriminatory laws at the state level, and they get more attention, the local laws are impacting LGBTQIA+ people and groups like Moms for Liberty are on the attack.
Book Bans
One of the ways that the LGBTQIA+ community has been attacked is through book bans in school. For older LGBTQIA+ individuals (such as myself), books were one of the first ways that they saw LGBTQIA+ people. Books are still an important way for people to see themselves; furthermore, if we want to encourage reading, we need books where people see themselves.
PEN America released a report on the book bans we have been seeing over the past couple of years. In this study, they found that many of the book bans aren’t even from community members, but politicians and outside members. Conservative networks, such as Moms for Liberty and Patriot Action Network, are pushing candidates who specifically aim to “erase” LGBTQIA+ communities through banned books. This has become easier since it only takes one person to get books banned for a whole community.
I encourage you to ask candidates for local school boards, library boards, and city council what they feel about book bans. Nonprofits can also start their own library of banned and “dangerous” books. Providing these resources to students allows them to read and see diverse worlds.
Local Pride Celebrations
Some towns are talking about ending their local pride celebration. We are specifically seeing this in Florida in response to bills banning drag. A small town in Tennessee almost voted against a permit for a Pride parade, with the mayor giving the deciding vote to save the celebration. Pride celebrations are important because they show support for the queer community. These are obviously difficult decisions to make: if a town allows a pride event they may be opening themselves up to a lawsuit or violence. Queer organizations in states like Florida and Tennessee also have tough decisions to make regarding Pride events. Not every town will have a Pride event, and towns will probably be thinking of cancelling anything that supports LGBTQIA+ individuals and communities. In my town, for instance, they put up a Pride flag during the month of June and have a little ceremony to show support for the LGBTQIA+ community. Even something as small as that may come under fire. If your town does something for Pride month, that is a great way for your nonprofit to show support for the LGBTQIA+ community; working with the town for their events.
Discussions of LGBTQIA+ communities in schools
Along with being kicked out of the library, any mention of LGBTQIA+ individuals, including safe spaces, in schools are being destroyed. This includes removing protections for transgender students and outing LGBTQIA+ students to their parents under the guise of “Parent’s Bill of Rights”. These bills, unsurprisingly, make the school environment less safe for LGBTQIA+ people. Though many of these laws are at the state level, there is a lot of local level control. How the schools support (or do not support) LGBTQIA+ communities is sometimes local decision.
What can we do?
Nonprofits can provide safe space to LGBTQIA+ individuals, especially youth. They can also educate their community about the queer experience within their local community. For example, many people may not understand why it is so bad for schools to tell parents if their children have come out as LGBTQIA+. Through this forced outing, though, you take away the decision for the child to decide whether or not to tell and, if the parents are not welcoming, the child may be abused or kicked out of the house. It is not about parents; it is about the safety, security, and the mental well-being of our children.
Providing educational opportunities, such as LGBTQIA+ history and books with diverse LGBTQIA+ characters helps fill the hole in the current education system. It is also part of not only providing safe space for LGBTQIA+ individuals, but for everyone who uses your services. But in this political context, providing a queer-friendly environment is important to fight against the erasure of LGBTQIA+ people.