Last Year Was Brutal for LGBTQ+ Communities, But We Fought Back

January 7, 2026

2025 was brutal for LGBTQ+ communities. We covered an array of attacks on queer and trans rights, from President Trump’s January 28, 2025, Executive Order, to the destruction of gender-affirming healthcare for NYC trans youth, to Texas’s Senate Bill 8. And these are just a small sample of the horrors that 2025 brought. But these horrors were not left unchallenged; 2025 also brought an inspiring, powerful array of advocacy.

Toshio Meronek and Eric A. Stanley recount the many ways that we fought back. Librarians and teachers have resisted anti-LGBTQ+ censorship in public libraries in schools; organizers have improved access to banned books through the Queer Liberation Library. In the face of extreme restrictions to accessing trans healthcare, the Trans Youth Emergency Project is connecting trans youth and families with grants and volunteer guides across state lines. The Trans Pride march in San Francisco was reportedly the largest one yet.

The fights from last year are not over, and there is no shortage of new, unconscionable attempts to deprive LGBTQ+ communities of their rights. We at the Woodhull Freedom Foundation know that these rights are inextricable from our fundamental human right to sexual freedom, and we commit ourselves to continuing to advocate for LGBTQ+ communities in 2026.