Americans’ support for same-sex marriage has dipped in the last year, according to a new poll.
In the Gallup poll, 65 percent of respondents said same-sex marriages “should be valid” under the law, while 32 percent said same-sex marriages “should not be valid” under the law. Three percent had no opinion.
Last May, 68 percent said same-sex marriages “should be valid” under the law and 29 percent said the marriages “should not be valid.” In May 2024, 69 percent backed the legality of same-sex marriages and 23 percent did not.
In recent years, Republican lawmakers in some states have called for the Supreme Court to reconsider its landmark Obergefell v. Hodges decision made in 2015, which guaranteed same-sex marriage nationwide. A number of GOP senators in 2022 voted against the Respect for Marriage Act, which protects same-sex and interracial marriages.
More recently, conservatives have increasingly targeted transgender people through efforts to limit access to gender-affirming care and restrict transgender children competing in sports categories aligned with their gender.
Tension boiled over between House Republicans concerning gay rights earlier this week, with GOP Rep. Mike Lawler (N.Y.) and former Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) pushing back on Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) who made a now-deleted social media post saying that “homosexuality has no place in America.”
“Happy Nuclear Family Month,” Ogles added in the message, seemingly referencing Pride Month, which is celebrated in June.
In response to his Republican colleague, Lawler said, “Homosexuality exists. In America.”
“In fact, Andy, you have family, friends, neighbors, colleagues and constituents who are gay and lesbian. It doesn’t make them less than or somehow unworthy of being an American. What an absolutely idiotic statement to make.”
Ogles later told The Hill that he had not approved the post.
The Gallup poll took place from May 1 to 17, featuring 1,001 adults and a margin of error of 4 percentage points.
Where is the best place to be gay in America? Increasingly, it’s a question of ZIP code.
While Massachusetts and California are known for championing supportive policies and rolling out the welcome mat to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer residents, other areas like Arkansas and Tennessee that have unfurled a wave of LGBTQ+ rollbacks have a less hospitable reputation.
Today, that divide is wider than ever, according to the latest State LGBTQ+ Business Climate Index from Out Leadership shared exclusively with USA TODAY.
The index suggests America’s acceptance of gay people has continued a steep decline, reversing many of the civil rights advances that increased the well-being and safety of the LGBTQ+ population, Out Leadership’s founder and CEO, Todd Sears, told USA TODAY.
The national average score in the index has fallen for four straight years. The 10 highest-ranked states have held steady or improved, but the lowest-ranked have dipped more, and the middle ground is quickly disappearing, according to Sears.
On the index’s 100-point scale, the typical state scores just 53.1 and 26 states fall below 60, he said.
“When we started this index eight years ago, the goal was to show Americans the issues that were still live but invisible − HIV criminalization, conversion therapy, where state legislators actually stood − because once marriage equality passed, a lot of people assumed the work was done. It wasn’t,” Sears said. “What we’ve documented since is a genuine regression.”
4-year slide in gay and trans equality
Each year for the last eight, Out Leadership has released the index to map out where the 9% of U.S. adults who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or something other than heterosexual are least and most welcome. Created as an inclusion reference guide for business leaders, LGBTQ+ people soon began consulting it to figure out where they should – and should not – live and work.
For years, the index has measured such factors as the impact of state government policies and prevalent attitudes, from support for young people and families to health access and safety to nondiscrimination protections.
Out Leadership decided to make the additions after the Supreme Court struck down state conversion therapy bans.
“For the last several years, we simply weren’t capturing forces that were already hitting LGBTQ+ citizens and their families,” Sears said.
As a result, the national average score fell five points to 60.87 out of 100. And the index shows even greater geographic polarization.
The gap between the most welcoming state – Massachusetts at 93.23 – and the least – Arkansas, 28.06 – widened from 55 points in 2019 to 65 points.
“Something Americans had come to take for granted, that LGBTQ+ people exist and deserve civil rights, has been thrown back into question,” Sears said.
From California to Arkansas, how states rank
Out Leadership’s new criteria boosted some states. California rose in the rankings for its leadership in pro-LGBTQ+ policy while Illinois gained ground for providing protections for access to gender-affirming care, among other measures.
Consideration of these additional factors tanked the rankings of some states. Bathroom bans, health care restrictions and other state measures pummeled Florida while Texas slipped because of anti-trans legislation.
Even LGBTQ+ friendly states fell in the rankings.
Maine, for example, declined, not because it passed unfriendly laws, but because the new indicators rewarded states that enacted protections that it had not. South Dakota, on the other hand, gained five positions because it has not adopted much of the anti-LGBTQ+ legislation that other states have.
Bottom line, half of America is increasingly unfriendly to the LGBTQ+ population, Sears said. “The math shows it,” he said.
Surge in anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment
From Pride parades to the federal legalization of same-sex marriage, for decades, America’s acceptance of gay people was on a steady march.
Bias against gay people declined from 2007 to 2020 and was on track to disappear altogether, according to a 2022 study by Tessa Charlesworth, an assistant professor of management and organizations at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and Harvard psychologist Mahzarin Banaji.
Then in the early 2020s, the trend reversed. Anti-gay bias jumped 10 points from 2021 to 2024.
By Gallup’s measure, acceptance of LGBTQ people – at an all-time high four years ago – has fallen every year since as public approval of LGBTQ+ legal protections recedes and transgender rights become a culture-war flashpoint.
The political shift has spilled over into the broadly supportive corporate world, which – despite a track record of backing the nation’s LGBTQ+ population – shrank Pride Month budgets, flashed fewer rainbow flags and downplayed solidarity amid the “go woke go broke” backlash against Target and Bud Light and pressure from activists to roll back LGBTQ+ commitments.
According to Charlesworth’s research, bias has been rising in most states since 2020.
Nearly two-thirds of states have seen an increase in implicit bias towards gay people – automatic judgments made about others based on sexual orientation – and three-quarters have seen an increase in explicit bias – the attitudes, prejudices, or stereotypes toward a person or group on a conscious level, she said.
“Geography certainly plays a role in the overall amount of bias toward gay, lesbian and trans people,” Charlesworth told USA TODAY. “There are systematic patterns across places that shape where is more tolerant and accepting versus more hostile.”
Even socially progressive cities in conservative states are no longer as safe or welcoming, Sears said. Surveys show many LGBTQ+ residents in red states have considered uprooting their lives or have already fled.
“Over the next 12 to 18 months, companies are going to feel this, and many already are,” he said. “There’s a talent flight underway. LGBTQ people are leaving anti-LGBTQ states, families of trans, nonbinary, and gay young people are relocating, and employees are going back into the closet. Whatever someone is hiding at work, they’re not bringing their full self, and they’re not bringing everything they could to the company. That’s why the economic impact will be felt for a long time.”
5 highest-ranking states for LGBTQ+
1. Massachusetts
2. New York
3. Connecticut
4. New Jersey
5. Illinois
5 lowest-ranking states for LGBTQ+
50. Arkansas
49. Tennessee
48. Idaho
47. South Carolina
46. Florida
Corrections & Clarifications: Out Leadership updated its methodology which resulted in some score and ranking changes for states in the index.
Maine’s Secretary of State Shenna Bellows (D) ruled on Tuesday that Protect Girls’ Sports in Maine, an anti-transgender campaign, submitted invalid and forged signatures in its bid for a November ballot measure that sought to ban trans students from school sports and restrooms. As a result, the measure will not appear on the voting ballot this November, Erin in the Morning reported.
The campaign, bankrolled by out-of-state billionaire Richard Uihlein, submitted 79,692 signatures — well over the 67,682 required to qualify. However, a court review of the campaign’s petitions in May invalidated 12,542 of the signatures, leaving the campaign 532 signatures short of the required number.
Some of the signatures were thrown out because the collectors didn’t witness the signing (as required by state law). Others were invalidated because the signatures did not match the voters’ signatures on voter registries, because the signatories signed more than once, because the signers weren’t registered voters, or because the signatures were forgeries. Collectors were paid $3 to $4 per signature.
Though Bellows approved the signed petitions as valid in March, following a court evidentiary review, she ruled on Tuesday that the petitions fell short of the required number of signatures to get the measure on the November ballot.
The ballot measure would’ve defined a student’s sex as “a biological status as male or female recorded at birth on the person’s original birth certificate,” effectively ending any legal recognition of trans students, not just in the cases of restrooms and sports. It also would’ve carved trans students out of legal protections enshrined in the Maine Human Rights Act (a statewide anti-discrimination law), and would’ve allowed cisgender students to sue any school that allowed trans students to use sex-segregated school spaces alongside them.
In a statement celebrating Bellows’ ruling, David Farmer, campaign manager for the Campaign for Free and Fair Schools coalition, said, “The paid, out-of-state signature gatherers and the billionaire who paid to try to put this question on the ballot failed to follow the rules. We believe that the appeals process and the reviews by the Secretary of State are working as the law intends. They are protecting the integrity of our elections.”
Even if voters had approved the measure in November, it would likely have faced legal challenges, since it would’ve resulted in trans students and their families facing harassment and discrimination.
Transgender journalist Erin Reed noted that Uihlein is a major funder of the American Principles Project, a right-wing conservative organization that has spent tens of millions on anti-trans election ads. Reed also noted that an independent analysis published by Atmos and HEATED found that 80% of the nation’s 45 major anti-trans organizations have gotten funding from billionaires or fossil fuel companies.
Reed also noted that anti-trans ballot measures will go in front of voters in both Washington and Colorado.
“Both efforts are also funded by conservative megadonors,” she wrote, “and both are part of the same strategy that produced the Maine initiative: Use ballot initiatives to roll back trans rights in states whose elected legislatures have refused to do so.”
Uihlein and Protect Girls Sports in Maine’s efforts came after Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D) repeatedly refused to comply with the president’s extortive attempts to withhold federal education funding in retaliation for the state’s trans-inclusive school policies.
The U.S. Department of Justice has sued Maine, challenging the state’s trans-inclusive interpretation of Title IX. That legal battle is currently ongoing.
Ghana’s parliament on Friday approved a new bill that criminalizes the so-called promotion of LGBTQ activity, part of a broader crackdown on sexual minorities in West Africa.
The Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill, 2025, passed by a voice vote after the Constitutional and Legal Affairs Committee unanimously recommended its adoption, first deputy speaker Bernard Ahiafor said.
The bill was introduced last year shortly after President John Dramani Mahama took office. Lawmakers from Mahama’s political party, the National Democratic Congress, had been urged by religious leaders and other supporters of the bill to vote on it, and Mahama will now face pressure to sign it.
Lawmakers passed an earlier version of the bill in 2024, under Mahama’s predecessor, President Nana Akufo-Addo, but it faced legal challenges and Akufo-Addo never signed it into law.
The bill approved on Friday maintains the existing penalty of up to three years in prison for same-sex sexual acts. It also bans “funding, sponsorship or promotion” of LGBTQ acts, with prison terms ranging from three to five years. And it introduces a “duty to report” prohibited LGBTQ acts to a police officer or other authorities, with violators facing up to three years behind bars.
The bill further amends Ghana’s Extradition Act of 1960 to make offences under the new law extraditable offences.
West Africa has seen a raft of anti-LGBTQ legislation in recent months.
Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye in March signed a bill doubling the maximum prison term for same-sex sexual acts to 10 years and criminalizing any efforts to promote homosexuality.
In September last year, lawmakers in Burkina Faso voted to criminalize same-sex sexual acts for the first time and to criminalize “behaviour likely to promote homosexual practices and similar practices.”
The Aguda – The Association for LGBTQ+ Equality in Israel published its 2025 Pride Index for local authorities on Thursday, with Ramat Gan, Rishon Lezion and Tel Aviv-Yafo taking first place with a perfect score of 110 points. Jerusalem, Ashkelon and Nahariya joined the index for the first time this year. The findings point to wide gaps between authorities: while some have implemented broad policies and permanent services for the LGBTQ+ community, others have taken little action in the field.
The Pride Index, published for the seventh year, was presented at the President’s Residence to President Isaac Herzog, with representatives of local authorities and the association in attendance. The index evaluates municipal policy toward the LGBTQ+ community in areas including education, welfare, public visibility, culture and organizational infrastructure. This year, 46 local authorities were assessed, with a maximum possible score of 110 points, including bonus questions.
According to the index, culture — including Pride events and year-round community activities — is the area receiving the greatest municipal investment, while education saw the lowest level of investment.
In the large-authority category (more than 100,000 residents), Ramat Gan, Rishon Lezion and Tel Aviv-Yafo ranked first with full scores of 110 points. They were followed by Haifa with 106 points and Herzliya with 104.
Netanya, which scored 99 points, received a special distinction for a “significant leap,” partly due to expanded activity in education, welfare and community services. In the medium-sized authority category, Givatayim and Ra’anana shared first place with 108 points, followed by Kiryat Bialik with 105 points and Ramat Hasharon with 104.
Among smaller authorities, Hof HaCarmel ranked first with 101 points, followed by Drom HaSharon with 98 points and Binyamina-Giv’at Ada with 86. Eight authorities joined the index for the first time this year: Azor, Ashkelon, Bnei Shimon, Tirat Carmel, Jerusalem, Nahariya, Katzrin and Kiryat Ono. The Aguda said participation itself marks “an important step in building a path and laying the foundations for community action.”
The data show the average municipal score this year stood at about 72.5 points. Alongside authorities that achieved especially high scores, others received very low marks, underscoring significant disparities in policy and services for the LGBTQ+ community across Israel.
Notably, despite the 46 authorities assessed this year, many municipalities in Israel still do not participate in the index at all — a fact the Aguda views as evidence that major gaps in attitudes toward the LGBTQ+ community remain between different local authorities nationwide.
Speaking at the ceremony, President Isaac Herzog said, “The Pride Index reflects the growing commitment of local authorities in Israel to the values of equality and human dignity.” Referring to Jerusalem’s inclusion in the index, he said it carried “special importance,” because “even amid complexity, it is possible and necessary to strengthen every person’s sense of belonging, security and dignity.”
Aguda chairperson attorney Nimrod Gorenstein said, “Local authorities are the community’s first line of defense.” He added: “Every authority has its own character, but all share a common responsibility to lead, set an example and show that it is possible to build a diverse, vibrant and safe society here.”
Transgender Europe (TGEU) has released its annual Trans Rights Index and Map, which ranks countries by the protections and opportunities that they offer for trans and nonbinary people. While there have been net positives across Europe, TGEU notes that the gains have not been caused by larger political and climate shifts.
The report “reveals a year of change on paper across Europe and Central Asia but not sustained political progress,” TGEU writes. “While more developments have been recorded than in recent years, many of these hard-won shifts are driven by activists and courts rather than proactive government action.”
The map is co-funded by the European Union and is done in partnership with ILGA Europe’s Rainbow Map. For the Trans Rights Index, they measure each country against 32 indicators across six categories: Legal Gender Recognition, Asylum, Hate Crime/Speech, Non-Discrimination, Health, and Family.
Coming in at the top of the rankings as a clear winner this year was Iceland, which met 30 out of the 32 indicators. It missed one point under Asylum. While gender identity is supported by its laws and it has legal gender recognition for refugees, it does not expressly include gender identity in other asylum policies. Similarly, under Hate Crime/Speech, it got points for having legislation against hate crimes and hate speech targeted at trans people, but it doesn’t have a policy tackling hatred, which can be important to understanding potential threats to trans people in a country.
After Iceland, several runners-up are in close proximity, with Malta fulfilling 28 of the 32 indicators, Spain at 27.18, Belgium and Norway both at 25.5, and Germany at 24.57.
Across the 54 countries studied for the Trans Rights Index, there’s a wide margin in how they treat trans people. Austria, Germany, Iceland, and Malta are the only four countries that have fully met the criteria for nonbinary gender recognition. Meanwhile, Bulgaria, Georgia, Hungary, Russia, and Slovakia still have frameworks in place that make legal gender recognition impossible for trans people. Russia is at the bottom of the ranking, meeting zero of the 32 criteria.
TGEU also provides commentary on how the political climate has shaped the rankings compared to previous years. Notably, they point to “targeted and deliberate regressions” in what they call “rollback as a political strategy.” Belarus introduced an “anti-propaganda law” in April, which criminalized the promotion of trans rights and representation. The country also reinstated compulsory medical requirements for legal gender recognition. Slovakia also introduced a block on legal gender recognition. And the United Kingdom gets a special mention for the “ambiguity” around the nation’s Gender Recognition Certificates after last year’s Supreme Court ruling.
The organization also highlights that progress across Europe and Central Asia over the last year is due to the tireless work of activist groups and court responses. For example, Czechia brought in new legal gender recognition guidelines that no longer include forced sterilization and surgical requirements after a Constitutional Court ruling. TGEU explained, “These guidelines followed years of advocacy and litigation by trans activists and represent one of the most significant shifts in the region this year. However, as these changes are not fully enshrined in legislation, they remain vulnerable to rollback.”
Of course, TGEU also makes the point that while these positive legal moves are a great sign, they’re not the full story. Laws on paper don’t always translate to “safety, dignity, or the ability to access human rights for trans people.” With that in mind, TGEU calls on governments to do their part to secure trans rights in these countries and to support efforts to establish stronger protections.
“Regional and national leaders must now step up,” the report states, “put court rulings and laws into practice, and hold those accountable who treat human rights like an a la carte menu.”
One of the Venezuelan men sent from the US to El Salvador’s most notorious prison by Donald Trump has moved to Spain to request asylum after concluding that he did not feel safe back home and did not trust US authorities sufficiently to return to fight his legal case.
Andry José Hernández Romero left Venezuela for Spain in early February and is due for his first asylum hearing in court there in a few days, hoping that the country’s liberal approach to immigration will afford him kinder treatment than the US or his own country had provided him, he revealed to the Guardian in his first interview since leaving for Europe.
The 33-year-old hairstylist and makeup artist originally came to the US from his home in western Venezuela to escape persecution as a gay man and the risks of opposing the government of its then president Nicolás Maduro.
Speaking in a video call fromsouthern Spain, Hernández is still recovering from the trauma of his experiences in Venezuela, the US and El Salvador, but expressed optimism about his new surroundings.
“I can say I feel safe here, this is a place where I can be reborn, heal my mental health, let people know about my abilities as a makeup artist and find the happiness they took away from me more than a year ago,” he said in the interview conducted in Spanish.
Hernández gained global attention last year when he and 252 other Venezuelan migrants were abruptly deported from the US without due process or any word to their families, and in defiance of a judge, and flown by the Trump administration to the brutal mega-prison for alleged terrorists in El Salvador known as Cecot.
Images of the bewildered and terrified group being roughed up and having their heads shaved, and then lined up on the ground with bowed heads, flashed around the world, a new symbol of the returning US president’s harsh anti-immigration agenda. They were held incommunicado for months in cages and initially given no prospect of release under allegations of having ties to a Venezuelan gang, which Hernández and the others vehemently denied.
International human rights groups found Hernández and the other detainees faced psychological and physical abuse, including cases of sexual violence, before they were suddenly released in a prisoner swap last summer and returned home.
Hernández received a jubilant reception. He began trying to rebuild his life, and he told the Guardian he initially promised his family he would never leave Venezuela again.
However, after a few weeks he began fearing for his life once more after a knock on his family’s door in Táchira.
“I had received a call from the vice-president’s office and I was offered a job, which I declined, and then they came to my house and my family had to tell them I wasn’t there,” Hernández said. He had actually hidden during the visit.
He explained that before the vice-president’s office could even specify the kind of job it wanted him to do, he refused it. It was August 2025 and Delcy Rodríguez ran the office. He didn’t want to have ties to a government that had persecuted him as a gay man, he said, and having officials coming to the house just made him convinced he was going to be surveilled by the authorities.
He was back home, surrounded by his family, feeling protected during a time that he had expected to be a rough transition into society, back at work and even making new friends.
Months later, Rodríguez was sworn in as the acting president of Venezuela following the capture of Maduro by the US military. Around the same time, Hernández made up his mind.
“That’s when I made the decision to come to Spain,” he said.
He has some relatives there and Venezuelans do not require a visa to enter Spain, while those fleeing persecution are allowed to request asylum.
“I have heard that Spain is a country with open policies towards immigrants and the LGBTQ+ communities and that they don’t experience discrimination,” said Hernández. He feels secure and optimistic about making another fresh start.
In March 2025, the Trump administration controversially invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to order the expulsion of Hernández and 136 other men who ended up in Cecot. Hernández was accused of being a member of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, which Trump designated a terrorist group and bizarrely accused of staging an invasion of the US.
It didn’t matter that Hernández had explained to immigration officials that he had fled Venezuela due to persecution stemming from his sexual orientation. His crown tattoos above the names of his parents were deemed proof of gang affiliation. He has denied the charge throughout his ordeal and his attorneys noted he has no criminal record.
Lindsay Toczylowski, co-founder of the Immigrant Defenders Law Center (ImmDef), who is acting as Hernández’s lawyer, said that in nearly two decades of helping asylum seekers from around the world fleeing violence, she had “never been in a situation where it was not safe for a client to seek protection in the US”.
The US federal judge James Boasberg ordered the Trump administration to facilitate the return of the men deported under the Alien Enemies Act to El Salvador and allow them to receive the due process that he ruled they had been denied. But most recently, a court of appeals blocked Boasberg from investigating whether the Trump administration knowingly defied his order from March 2025 to return the planes carrying Hernández and the other Venezuelan deportees.
“From a legal perspective, we believe that it’s important for him to clear his name if he wants to travel to the US in the future. But from a moral perspective, he was accused with absolutely no evidence of being part of something that he has never had anything to do with. No one should be accused of something like that without any option to refute the allegations,” said Toczylowski.
“There are no immediate options available for him [and the others] to finally have their day in court and be able to clear” their names, she added.
In Spain, where Hernández now waits for his first asylum interview, scheduled for the end of this month, officials have defied the increasingly harsh immigration policies being embraced in Europe and the US. Earlier this year, the Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, announced that Spain would grant legal status to roughly 500,000 migrant workers, most from Latin America.
Spain has a strong record of taking in immigrants, especially Venezuelans seeking international protection, like Hernández.
According to numbers shared by the Spanish government with the Guardian, Venezuelans made up the highest number of requests for international protection there in 2025. And up to 30 April this year, more than 25,000 Venezuelans have sought asylum in Spain.
Hernández said he is still marked by the trauma he endured during his time at Cecot. For example, when someone approaches him and simply taps him on the shoulder, his mind jumps back to the prison. He still wants to clear his name, though, but doesn’t know how to do so at the moment.
Remarkably, he said: “I don’t hold a grudge against the US. I can’t judge an entire country based on the actions of a group of people like Donald Trump [or] Kristi Noem, but entering the US at this time doesn’t guarantee I will keep my freedom and that is why I will continue to fight my case from Spain.
“Recovering my happiness will only be possible at the right place with the right people.”
Since Trump took office last year, traveling as a trans person has felt terrifying.
I used to travel by plane frequently. As a consultant, I was in a new state at least quarterly for client visits and onsite training. But last year, things changed for me, as they did for many others.
When I changed my name (over 10 years ago), I did not change my gender marker. The name on my ID is “Rex” while my gender marker shows “F”. The reasoning on my name change petition marks “the petitioner seeks to conform their name to their gender identity.”
I’ve heard stories from friends and community members whose passports were reissued with their name or gender marker unconsensually reverted to their assigned sex at birth.
These actions don’t just invalidate and dehumanize transgender, nonbinary, and gender-expansive (TGX+) people. They also increase the risk of harassment and violence by forcibly outing us.
Last year, I traveled out of state for work only one time. I took the one hour flight from Los Angeles to Las Vegas for a conference. As I went through security, I wondered, “When they check my ID, will they look at my gender marker this time?” “Will it flag an additional security check?” “What will happen if they find out that I’m trans?”
It also encouraged deeper consideration of traveling while TGX+.
As I consider travel this year and beyond, I’ve developed some personal travel guidelines to help keep me safe. Organizations can adopt these to support the safety of their TGX+ employees, too.
Here are some considerations for TGX+ individuals while traveling…
1. Always travel together.
There is safety in numbers. Travel with a trusted friend or colleague and use the buddy system at crucial checkpoints (security, restrooms, etc.).
2. Consider all options.
What is the best mode of transportation for you? Car? Train? Plane? For me, traveling by plane feels the most precarious, and I am not willing to do it without support from a trusted source. Take time to consider which travel options are the safest and most suitable for your needs.
3. Make a safety plan.
Ensure you create a safety plan that includes considerations for where you are traveling, a point person who knows all your travel details, and an emergency contact who is available if necessary (this can be a person or a reputable organization such as Lambda Legal). For planning support, check out the Travel While Trans database.
4. Always bring documents.
When traveling, carry your identification (e.g., passport) and court-ordered official documents stating any name and gender marker changes. Before traveling, make copies of all documents and forms of identification. Keep one copy at home, and give another to a trusted confidant in case your documents get lost or confiscated. Contact Lambda Legal if any issues arise during travel.
While I’ve heard plenty of stories from other trans, nonbinary, and gender expansive folks who have traveled nationally and internationally without issues over the past year, I feel the need to be prepared to support my safety in the worst-case scenario.
We shouldn’t have to make these considerations, but they are important steps to take for the safety and well-being of TGX folks. Trans people deserve to exist without fear. The more equipped we are, and the more support we have to navigate the current climate, the more we can create a future that centers our joy, which is what traveling should truly be about.
Belgium often prides itself on being an LGBTQ-friendly country, yet anti-trans activists hide their transphobia behind superficial pro-trans statements. Rylan Verlooy explores how this paradox affects trans people’s activism. Here, they show how resistance takes the form of everyday acts of educating others, strengthening community spaces, and caring for trans lives
The myth of LGBTQ-friendliness
Belgium is often hailed as an ‘LGBTQ+ paradise‘ because of its comprehensive and inclusive legislation. In 2003, it was the second country worldwide to introduce marriage for registered same-sex couples and, since 2006, adoption rights. Since 2018, trans people have been able to legally change their binary sex marker based on self-determination. Still, Belgium’s LGBTQ-friendly image has been damaged by recent reports on transphobic violence, the persistent exclusion of non-binary people from state recognition, and the rising presence of anti-gender politics targeting trans people.
This poses a contradictory reality for trans people. On the one hand, the state provides some legal protection for some trans people. Trans people are part of Belgian narratives about the country’s LGBTQ-friendliness. On the other hand, transphobia is still widespread and invigorated by anti-gender politics. How can a country celebrate LGBTQ+ inclusion while simultaneously allowing for anti-trans politics?
Anti-trans politics in an ‘LGBTQ-friendly’ country
While the UK and the US are reversing trans rights and introducing anti-trans bills, Belgian anti-trans actors mostly employ a different strategy. Adapting to Belgium’s LGBTIQ-friendly image, they often claim to support trans rights and to empathise with trans people. But at the same time, they push pathologising anti-trans narratives and promote conversion therapy. They commonly describe trans women as ‘biological men’, and trans men as ‘girls with gender dysphoria’, or ‘victims of the woke craze’.
Some Belgian anti-trans actors often claim to support trans rights, but at the same time push anti-trans narratives and promote conversion therapy
Furthermore, they normalise misgendering in the media and in everyday interactions. Being misgendered is often a daily reality for trans people. However, in anti-trans politics, it is a consistent and intentional strategy to deny trans identities. This normalisation of misgendering also affects how friends and family speak about trans people in an increasingly negative way. Non-binary people in particular are the target of ridicule, making it harder for them to open up to families and friends.
The illusion of trans-inclusivity
Anti-trans actors sometimes preface statements with pretend support for some trans rights. Claims such as ‘we respect everyone, also people who transitioned’ allow anti-trans actors to gain legitimacy with a broader public. Indeed, it gives them an aura of trans-inclusivity. Furthermore, their affiliations with self-claimed ‘trans experts’ at universities, research institutes, and hospitals lead the media to present these actors as competent even when they have no professional experience working with trans people. Like other anti-gender actors, Belgian anti-trans actors create scientific-sounding discourse that serves their ideological agenda. Such discourse undermines trans rights – and disregards scientific rigour.
Together with parent organisations, self-declared ‘anti-woke’ academics, and Catholic groups, they form a well-connected network. This network promotes conversion therapy, the restriction or abolition of gender-affirming healthcare, and the exclusion of trans people in sports. However, the ostensible support for trans rights by these actors makes it harder to resist.
Care as radical resistance
Against the backdrop of anti-trans politics, everyday practices of resistance are increasingly important to trans communities. This includes educating others, but also practices of care to support each other and themselves.
Misinformation is a key strategy in anti-trans politics. Educating others on trans issues is therefore increasingly important for trans activists. There is a growing need for a ‘trans 101’; a simple introduction into trans issues and needs. However, many would rather educate people on intersecting injustices instead of constantly focusing on basic information about their trans lives.
Belgium may portray itself as LGBTQ-friendly, but this doesn’t necessarily mean that the country’s trans people are safe in public. Building and maintaining community spaces for trans people is therefore crucial
To care for one another, building and maintaining community spaces is crucial in a society that marginalises trans experiences. During interviews, more and more people reported the need for a welcoming space where trans people can simply exist. Activists want to unite trans people on the dancefloor, in talking groups, or in community kitchens. They emphasised that even though Belgium is seen as LGBTQ-friendly, that doesn’t necessarily mean trans people are safe in public, hence the importance of these trans-inclusive spaces.
Creating a liveable life
Other everyday activist practices include providing haircuts for trans people, cooking together, having movie nights, or acting as ‘queer mother’ offering emotional support to help trans youth navigate society. These everyday examples of care, along with the creation of community spaces, are crucial in sustaining trans people’s survival, and keeping alive the hope of a liveable life amid the lived consequences of anti-trans politics.
Everyday acts of care, such as providing haircuts for trans people or offering emotional support to trans youth, are crucial to keep alive the hope of a liveable life
These everyday practices of care are what Hil Malatino alludes to when he developed the concept of an ‘infrapolitics of care’ that ‘enables both political resistance and intracommunal survival and resistance’. These daily acts of care are a radical political act aimed at trans survival. Indeed, these instances of resistance are often unexpected and messy, but constitute a palpable way to practice solidarity when facing intricate strategies of marginalisation in a country that claims to be LGBTQ-friendly.
Caring for trans voices in research
While my research concentrates on the specific context of Belgium, its results echo the transnational dynamics of anti-trans politics, even in countries not considered LGBTQ-friendly. Trans voices disrupt this image of LGBTQ-friendliness and reveal how anti-trans rhetoric unfolds against the backdrop of a structural exclusion.
To further make sense of anti-trans politics across contexts, it is essential to attend to the voices of trans activists. Listening to their insights can lead to a more robust understanding of the issues at stake in anti-trans politics and the continuous structural transphobia. Their voices reveal the importance of everyday instances of resistance to anti-trans politics and transphobia, because these exclusionary currents affect trans people’s everyday lives.
Legislative attacks on the LGBTQ+ community have been pushed everywhere from city councils to the White House — but there are still some areas that are safe.
Over 1,000 anti-LGBTQ+ laws have been proposed across every state legislature in the U.S. over the past two years, according to the American Civil Liberties Union, and 126 have passed into law. Less than two months into the 2025 legislative session, 390 laws targeting LGBTQ+ people have been proposed.
Still, marriage equality and anti-discrimination protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity are still guaranteed federally by U.S. Supreme Court rulings (for now). On top of that, at least 15 states have “shield laws” protecting access to gender-affirming care and abortion.
Based on laws surrounding marriage, family rights, health care, education, and youth collected by the Movement Advancement Project, here are the 15 best states for LGBTQ+ people.
The states include California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington. Honorable mentions go to Washington DC, Delaware, Hawaii, Michigan, New Mexico, and Virginia.
You can read about each state in more detail in the Advocate’s article.
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