Dear Friend,
As we head into Pride month, I honestly can’t remember a time when our LGBTQ+ community has been at bigger, more critical crossroads. In one direction lies a future where our hard-won rights are stripped away, our people fired, fined, and imprisoned for being their authentic selves, and our young people forced into hiding or fleeing to protect themselves from the vitriolic hate which we already see spreading across the country — and even here in Colorado. An astounding, unprecedented 650+* anti-LGBTQ+ bills have been introduced in 2023 — and the year is only half over.
I know it’s exhausting. I know it’s terrifying. And yet, I know in my heart there is another way.
Down the second path is our victory. A future where we are celebrated, our identities affirmed, our youth and elders honored and revered. This path will not be easy. We ourselves may not even see the end of it. But we have to act, we have to organize, and we have to fight just as hard as we ever have. Our opponents are counting on being able to wear us down, divide us, and silence our community. They want us to go away. They want us to turn back.
Let’s keep moving.
We have a choice. We have each other. We have an obligation to the people who fought before us and a responsibility to the generations yet to come. This Pride Month, I hope you will join the fight. March with us, organize with us, advocate with us. Support the programs, services, and people which take us further down the path to victory.
Whatever you do, don’t give up.
Mardi Moore