As President Donald Trump begins his second term, the Human Rights Campaign says queer Americans are retreating from public life, and it’s time to push back. Speaking in Washington, D.C., HRC President Kelley Robinson said fear is shaping daily life. Parents hide who they are at their children’s schools, workers shrink themselves to keep their jobs, and couples think twice before holding hands on the street. Robinson said, “These are harrowing times…The emergency that we warned about is no longer a warning.
It is the reality that we are living inside.” HRC released two reports outlining both the damage and a strategy for resistance. Nearly half of LGBTQ+ adults say they are less out than a year ago, more than half say they are less visible, and two-thirds of transgender and nonbinary people report difficulty accessing health care. Robinson accused the administration of nationalized culture war policies that weaken civil rights and public health protections.
HRC’s new playbook urges candidates to go on offense, reject fear-based messaging, and lead with shared values. After the event, Robinson had a message for LGBTQ+ people pulling back from public life: “You are enough…every day that you show up being exactly who you are is as much resistance as you’ve got to have.”
