Today begins Pride Month, a time to honor and celebrate our LGBTQIA+ community. While this month is about celebrating, we must also remind you that Pride began as a riot, with Black and Brown women–as they so often do–leading the fight for liberation.

We all deserve to be our true authentic self in all aspects of our lives. Yet, state legislators continue to pass hate filled bills, particularly focused on the transgender community. According to ACLU, over 100 bills attacking transgender people have been introduced in state legislatures since 2020.

This hate, along with legislation like Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill, must stop. We call on you to celebrate and advocate for LGBTQIA+ people every month and commit to building a more equitable, just and compassionate society. We affirm and support the LGBTQIA+ community every day. Hate has no place here.

As always, we call you to action this month and we invite you to support LGBTQIA+ serving organizations today. Here are some suggestions:

• The DC Center for the LGBT Community educates, empowers, celebrates, and connects the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities.
• Center for Black Equity whose mission is to to promote a multinational LGBTQ+ network dedicated to improving health and wellness opportunities, economic empowerment, and equal rights while promoting individual and collective work, responsibility, and self-determination.
• Casa Ruby is a multicultural LGBT organization providing educational, health, housing and social services to individuals facing poverty in the nation’s capital.
• SMYAL supports and empowers lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ) youth in the Washington, DC metropolitan region. Through youth leadership, SMYAL creates opportunities for LGBTQ youth to build self-confidence, develop critical life skills, and engage their peers and community through service and advocacy.