Nine years ago, when I was in high school, gay marriage was finally legalized in the Obergefell v. Hodges Supreme Court case. While it was certainly a day to celebrate—and gave an important glimmer of hope to a community that has long been neglected, ostracized, and harmed—it also didn’t magically remove slurs from people’s vernacular or hate from their hearts. It did refuel a movement that has grown exponentially since then, taking Pride Month and Pride parades to the mainstream.
Fast forward to today and 28% of my generation (Gen Z) identifies as LGBTQ+ compared to just 7% of baby boomers. To me, that means lots more kids and young adults that will be able to grow up living their lives to the fullest. Shout out to all the LGBTQ+ elders that have paved the way and happy Pride Month!
In high school, I also learned about the extent of the climate crisis for the first time. Back then, there was still mainstream debate about scientific legitimacy. I remember getting into heated arguments to dispute the rampant climate denial. Fortunately, we’ve come a long way since then, and the climate conversation has reached consensus and gone mainstream far beyond what I would’ve imagined as a frustrated and disillusioned teenager.
Just in the past two years, we passed the Inflation Reduction Act—the largest investment in climate solutions in U.S. history. This year, we also finalized the strongest and most comprehensive suite of EPA rules to cut air pollution and climate emissions at unprecedented rates. Shout out to the Moms and climate advocates around the country who made this progress a reality!
TELL CONGRESS: SUPPORT MENTAL WELLNESS RESOURCES FOR COMMUNITIES HIT BY CLIMATE DISASTER
The fight for LGBTQ+ rights and the climate movement have grown rapidly and in tandem throughout my life. Perhaps this is because there is so much overlap between the activists leading both movements. LGBTQ+ people, specifically Black and Brown LGBTQ+ people and two-spirit Indigenous folks, have always been at the forefront of climate action because they’ve been subjected to disproportionate environmental harm and recognize the inherent interconnectedness between these movements.
While we’ve made real progress in recent years, it’s critical to continue to fight the remaining environmental injustices LGBTQ+ people uniquely face. A few examples:
1. Disproportionate exposure to environmental harm
LGBTQ+ people are more likely to live in areas with higher rates of air pollution and in closer proximity to environmental hazards because of higher poverty rates, discriminatory housing policies, and location-based cultural acceptance of LGBTQ+ people. This has driven higher rates of respiratory diseases, cardiovascular disease, and cancer as well as exacerbated existing chronic and mental health challenges.
2. Climate disaster recovery
Unhoused people and those with chronic illnesses—both groups that include disproportionately high numbers of LGBTQ+ people—often fare worse during extreme weather and climate disasters because of disruptions to social welfare programs and health care. Also, sometimes outside groups leading recovery efforts, including faith-based ones, hold queerphobic beliefs and even refuse to help LGBTQ+ individuals.
3. Barriers during climate migration
Moving to escape climate impacts often requires navigating government bureaucracy and new health-care systems, which can be especially challenging for transgender and nonbinary people whose legal documents may not match their name or gender. Applying for refugee status during international climate migration is also difficult because sponsorship from a blood relative or marriage may be required—a frequent barrier as LGBTQ+ people are much more likely to be estranged from their birth families and still aren’t legally allowed to marry in much of the world.
These impacts of the climate crisis on LGBTQ+ folks are disproportionately shouldered by Black, Brown, and Indigenous people within the community owing to intersecting systems of oppression. One activist focused on this intersection, Isaias Hernandez, founded QueerBrownVegan to make environmental education accessible to all and to challenge people to consider the unique power of queerness in the climate movement.
“When we think of queerness we may think of representation and rainbows, but the truth is that queerness is an expansionary culture that allows us to reenvision what safety, care, and designing systems can look like,” he once wrote.
Reenvisioning, reimagining, and rebuilding our society is required to achieve climate justice. We have the opportunity—and I would argue the obligation—to think outside the binary and the confines of our existing systems of oppression to create a better world not just during Pride Month but every month. Just consider all the wonderful possibilities there are to create a world that is not only a source of pride for all but safe, healthy, and thriving for everyone.
TELL CONGRESS: SUPPORT MENTAL WELLNESS RESOURCES FOR COMMUNITIES HIT BY CLIMATE DISASTER