HRC declares unprecedented state of emergency for LGBTQ+ community

The Human Rights Campaign -- the nation's  largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ+) civil rights organization -- declared a state of emergency for the LGBTQ+ population in the United States. It came “following an unprecedented and dangerous spike in anti-LGBTQ+ legislative assaults sweeping state houses this year,” reads the website.

“It hurt and it was sad,” said Smith, the communications director for Colorado Springs, Colorado,-based LGBTQ+ youth advocacy organization Inside Out Youth Services. “But it was also a sense of validation … other people are seeing the things that we’re seeing. … It is both tragic and important to hear.”

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What does this state of emergency mean?

For Central Michigan University Senior Rose Stanyer, as a queer woman, the declaration meant validation of a lot of dangers that the LGBTQ+ community has been living with.

“It showcases how serious the problem is getting in this century,” she said.

Shannon Jolliff, director of the LGBTQ Services and Gender Equity Programs at Central Michigan University, said the dangers and anti-LGBTQ+ policies are not new. Over 15 years' of her work, she has seen a lot of anti-LGBTQ+ policies come into place in the U.S.

“The state of emergency, I think, opens up opportunity to talk about collective liberation, to talk about joy and how we find the joy in the midst of all the anti-LGBTQ orders that are coming out,” she said. “I think it also gives us an opportunity to reflect on our history, and our community has a long history of anti-LGBTQ violence.” 

The HRC state of emergency shows that LGBTQ+ issues and anti-community polices and violence impact everybody, Stanyer said. 

“I think a lot of people don’t realize that the queer community is a community, but all of us are a community too,” she said.

However, even though it impacts everyone, this warning also shows that the LGBTQ+ community is again supporting and validating itself, Smith said. 

“(HRC is) an LGBTQ organization,” Smith said. “They are going to be thinking about what we’re facing. 

“I am frustrated that this declaration or something similar hasn’t come from the government or from our own communities.”

Smith said the government should have “stepped in” when the tragedies and violence against the queer people happen. For example, they said the LGBTQ+ community needed government to protect it population after the November 2022 shooting at the popular nightclub Club Q. Five people died and 25 were injured during that hate-motivated attack; the 23-year-old assailant pled guilty to five counts of murder, dozens of counts of attempted murder and two counts of a hate-related crime June 27, receiving multiple life sentences in return. 

“After (the shooting), we got so much love and so much support, but we also got so much targeted hate at our community,” Smith said.

They had to turn off the Inside Out Twitter account as well as their own because they were “drowning in the threats and hate messages.”

“It was a difficult month after losing five members of our community,” they said.

The idea that prevents the government from acknowledging the violence against LGBTQ+ people is that it is “politically damaging,” Smith said. However, this idea is wrong because the anti-LGBTQ side is a “very small but well-funded minority.”

“There is this idea, even though it’s false, that there are two sides of this issue (and that) we need to pay as much attention to the anti-LGBTQ side as the LGBTQ side,” Smith said. “They are trying to harm us. That’s not a sign that deserves equal weight. 

“The sense of 'the either or the both sides' has really damaged what could be widespread support for our community that is suffering right now.”

Why was it issued right now?

Mass gun violence, as well as anti-LGBTQ+ legislation and anti-LGBTQ+ advocacy at school boards are the three reasons Smith said the state of emergency was issued just now.

“There’s certainly an increase of anti-LGBTQ policies being put into place, and there’s also a change in what they’re focusing on right now,” Jolliff said. “A lot of the policies are heavily anti-trans.”

If in the past, anti-LGBTQ+ legislation was focused on marriage and adoption, now it is focused on bathroom bans, sports participation and pronouns refusal, Jolliff said. 

According to the HRC website, there have been over 525 state bills proposed, 220 of them attaching the trans community. More than 75 anti-LGBTQ+ bills were signed to law in 2023. It doubled the number of them in 2022, which also set a record in the amount of anti-LGBTQ+ bills per year.

“We are reaching records as far as people proposing and passing legislation that actively makes our lives harder,” Smith said. 

Another place the anti-LGBTQ+ policies are getting into is K-12 schools. 

“There are more anti-LGBTQ policies in schools now than there have been since the '90s,” Smith said. 

For example, Smith said, both in Colorado school boards and even nationwide, there are board members who are anti-trans. The Colorado the Board of Education is trying to establish a policy  banning any reference to LGBTQ+ people until high school, Smith said. 

“If you know that queer people exist, you’re not going to be queer,” they said. “There’s not a correlation there. 

“It is incredibly frustrating to see those efforts and to see them so supported by people in positions of power. And meanwhile, the people in those positions think that there’s widespread support for their ideas, because we have these incredibly well-organized groups all over the country who are driving to school board meeting in other districts … to spread the same exact messages.”

“We should be supporting children for who they are and supporting their exploration of who they are,” Smith continued. “And instead, we’re telling them they don’t exist, or they can’t use this restroom.”

What is going to happen next?

HRC in its Guidebook for Action gives some safety advice such as which states are safe to live in, how to determine your access to healthcare, how to find a job and a supporting community, what organizations are anti-LGBTQ+ and other. 

According to the guidebook, Michigan is one of the “friendly” states. The campaign on Tuesday praised Michigan for passing a pair of bills that ban so-called "conversion therapy." 

House Bill 4616, which passed the Michigan Senate this week prevents state-licensed mental health providers from engaging in conversion therapy with minors and would aim to increase trust with state-licensed mental health providers. 

House Bill 4617, defines conversion therapy as “any practice or treatment by a mental health professional that seeks to change an individual's sexual orientation or gender identity,” and includes but is not limited to, efforts to change behaviors or gender expression to reduce or omit romantic or sexual attractions to a person of the same gender. It does not, under the law, include counseling for a person undergoing gender transition; counseling that offers acceptance, support or understanding or facilitates a person's coping, social support or identity exploration and development. 

Stanyer said she feels safe in Michigan and on the CMU campus. Michigan is “fighting good fights,” she said. For example, on June 11 Governor Whitmer established the first-in-the-nation LGBTQ+ commission that addresses the issues LGBTQ+ Michiganders face.

The HRC guidebook also provides information on how to advocate for LGBTQ+ people. Some of the things allies can do are contacting their elected officials, speaking up and educating other people.

Jolliff said an important thing is also to vote and know what legislators to put in place to protect the  LGBTQ+ community.

“The biggest thing that allies can do is to be loud,” Stanyer said. 

A good place to start is to educate oneself, she said: to read about who LGBTQ+ people are and let a queer person provide information about themselves, such as their pronouns.

“These big social battles are very important and they have to be fought,” Stanyer said. 

The “real” change happens in the “tiny interpersonal interactions,” Smith said. It will happen when people learn that there are other people than themselves and start focusing on the things that they love, rather than the things that scare or make them angry, they said. 

“I think we need to shift the narrative that this minority, although is vocal, that they’re the ones in control,” Smith said. “We really need for allies to be just as loud, for allies to be empowered to speak up.”

And the change will happen, they said. 

“It’s gonna get better,” Smith said. “Someday it’s going to shift -- maybe soon, maybe not -- but our society has always moved forward  and we’re going to keep doing that no matter how long it takes. 

“And one thing I can tell you about the LGBTQ community is no matter what happens out there -- a state of emergency, threats of violence, legislation -- we're still going to be here, we're going to be dancing. We are going to be shouting and having a great time focusing on the things that we love, because … that is our superpower.”