Repressive social backlash and extreme anti-LGBTQ sentiment are complicating Pride celebrations in the US this year, even potentially inviting violence against queer people and gatherings meant to celebrate the LGBTQ community.
Though LGBTQ people and by extension Pride have won important rights and gained fairly widespread acceptance in US political and social life in recent decades, right-wing politicians, religious leaders, and talking heads are creating a renewed environment of animosity and uneasiness for queer people throughout the country.
In Los Angeles, an ostensibly liberal city with a large LGBTQ community, the Los Angeles Dodgers disinvited — and then re-invited — the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence to a June 16 event honoring the group for its activism after complaints from conservatives. The SPI are an activist group and nonprofit that accepts members of all identities and backgrounds to raise money for LGBTQ causes. In Florida, the cities of Port St. Lucie and St. Cloud canceled Pride events due to uneasiness and fear in the wake of anti-LGBTQ bills signed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. In Fayetteville, Arkansas’ queer mecca, Northwest Arkansas Equality canceled events at the Walton Arts Center due to its ban on drag performances in front of minors.
The status of multiple Tennessee pride events was uncertain after that state passed a bill banning drag performances in March, but events in both Knoxville and Murfreesboro seemed to be on track despite earlier concerns. Organizers of both events did not respond to Vox’s request for comment by press time. And previous reports of Tampa’s Pride festivities being canceled may actually have more to do with the management and finances of the group running those events than a climate of fear in Florida, according to reporting from Axios.
Regardless, the number of anti-LGBTQ laws passed over the last year combined with growing anti-LGBTQ antagonism and very real threats of violence mark an…
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