This Good News Roundup Feels Like Change
This might be the longest good news recap I have written thus far... and it's not just because I'm chatty. LGBTQ+ representation in politics has tripled since 2017, and more great stuff in here!
With the beginning of July, pride month here in the US is "officially" over. While I didn't get any less queer, I did finally have an opportunity to slow down, which was great. Pride tends to move at a pretty breakneck pace for me, and July is always a welcome reprieve. I've been taking longer walks, spending more time reading and writing, and allowing myself lots and lots of extra rest and slowness.
As it turns out, though, very little is actually different between June 30th and July 1st. Pride is pride, the fight is the fight, and we're still here. When I started to compile the news for this week's good news recap, I was floored by how much came up! There's a lot of really fantastic stuff in here. Notably, so much of the good news the past few weeks coming from around the world is community driven. Individual people, restaurants, nonprofits, communities, and more making a choice to show up and fight for something they care about.
I know the supreme court and the federal budget BS have left a lot of us feeling totally drained and defeated, and it's important to allow ourselves space to rage, cry, and work through the losses. AND, as I am literally always saying, we have to be able to hold the losses and the victories together. There will always be both present.
Remember, friend: we don't see the world as it is, we see it as we are. If you see yourself as someone who is losing, or powerless, or already erased, this is the lens through which you understand every experience. Celebrating victories allows us to choose to see ourselves as empowered, embodied, capable, and together, and using this lens to understand our losses can also help us process the pain that comes.
Also, I'm really excited to share a new project with you all that I've been cooking up for a while! It's a second newsletter called "The Joyful Choice" built around my philosophy of using joy to enact change. It's a super short daily prompt to choose joy. The month will include a variety of opportunities to play, to enact change in your community, to reflect on your values, to learn more about advocates and heroes around you, and to undergo meaningful acts of self and community care. I hope you’ll check it out, and maybe even share it with a friend!
Cool People Doing Cool Stuff!
There was sooo much good news over the past few weeks, and I try my best to categorize it to make it easy to sort through, but sometimes things defy my robust categorization skills. Here’s a great sampler of some awesome community-driven wins!
San Francisco's first women's sports bar opened up, the latest in a rising trend that's actually focused on supporting women's sports! According to NBC, the number of sports bars dedicated to showing women's events is expected to quarduple in 2025! (Going from 6 to about 24, but still!)
A restaurant in Chicago created a pop up called "Chick-Feel-Gay" to make fun of Chick-fil-a and raise funds for a local Black trans community center. It's combining some of my favorite things: raising money for grassroots orgs, cake, and mocking homophobes!
A San Francisco bookstore has announced they are no longer selling copies of Harry Potter since JK Rowling announced that the funds garnered from the series would be put towards the "JK Rowling Women's Fund", which is explicitly dedicated to removing transgender rights around the world.
FDA has approved a twice a year HIV prevention drug. "This is the single best opportunity in 44 years of HIV prevention" according to the executive director of the AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition. There is still more work to be done to expand access to this currently costly treatment, but it's so exciting. Science Rules!
Pride, Strength, and Power around the World!
Australia has made their blood and plasma donation policies LGBTQ+ inclusive, removing outdated and scientifically unfounded criteria that was put in place during the AIDS epidemic. This victory was hard fought by the organization "Let us Give", and will save countless lives, bringing in an estimated 95,000 new donations per year.
An Indian high court has ruled that transgender women are women and must be protected by all nondiscrimination laws that protect cisgender women! The judge, in his ruling, stated: "A trans woman, born male and later transitioning to female, is legally entitled to recognition as a woman. Denying such protection by questioning their womanhood amounts to discrimination." Refreshing AF.
Though the far-right Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán, tried to ban pride, Budapest just held their largest pride celebration ever, with over 100,000 people present! I highly recommend checking out some of the really beautiful pictures of the power and scale of this celebration.
Election Wins!
San Antonio elected a new mayor last month; Gina Ortiz is a queer woman and veteran whose opponent—a former Texas secretary of state—spent over a million dollars trying to defeat her.
Billie Butler is a transgender woman running for the New Hampshire house of representatives. While her campaign focused on funding for arts and culture, her opponent built a website to mock her for being trans. She just defeated him, showing once again that the people are getting tired of hyper-partisan hate campaigns.
These elections reflect a trend that I think is critical and has gotten lost in the focus on anti-LGBTQ legislation: Since 2017, the number of openly LGBTQ elected officials has TRIPLED! Learn more about this in LGBTQ+ Victory Institute's annual Out for America Report!
This trend is unlikely to stop any time soon… in fact, quite the reverse! In the first week after Zohran Mamdani’s win in the NYC mayoral primary, which represented a shift towards younger, more progressive politics, over 5,000 people reached out to the organization Run for Something to indicate interest in running for public office!
So much of the work for the 2026 midterms has already begun now, and if you want to be involved in helping get LGBTQ folks elected to all levels of government, check out the new powerhouse Families United for Trans Rights (FUTR).
Legislative Wins!
The federal senate was flooded with countless calls on the trans healthcare coverage ban provision of the new federal budget, which pushed them to remove the provision. There are still many more harmful pieces of this bill, but this victory is still anything but small. When harm reduction is our goal, this is a major win.
The governor of Delaware has signed an executive order making Delaware a shield state for providers of gender affirming care! I continue to be heartened by the number of states finding creative ways to stand up for their trans citizens.
An appeals court in Kansas has reversed a prior ruling, and for the first time in two years, trans Kansans will have the ability to change the gender marker on their driver’s license!
The Ohio governor vetoed a number of anti trans provisions that were baked into the state's budget. While some others went through, the partial victory defending pride flags, safe and inclusive homeless shelters, and access to queer books is still a hard-fought win. Local advocacy organizations are proud of what they fought for.
This reminds me of our recent win in Florida, where their legislative session concluded a few weeks ago with ZERO anti-LGBTQ+ bills passed thanks to thousands of letters, emails, phone calls, and in-person meetings with queer folks and allies. Similarly, Maine just concluded their legislative session and passed no anti-LGBTQ bills, even though the GOP identified these bills as a top priority. Please don’t discount the value of speaking up and fighting back, especially on a local level.
Appearances!
This is a fun new section that I'm going to start occasionally including at the end of my newsletters (which is where I put anything that's just for my superfans). I will be doing a live, free, public event in New Jersey next week, and would love to see you there!
Catch me Thursday night at the Cranford Public Library talking about how to lead with joy in supporting transgender young people! Details here.
That's all for now!
If pride felt like a sprint for you, too, don't forget to slow down for a minute. There will always be more work to be done, and you aren't the only one holding the torch. Trust the people around you to carry things for a minute, and take a break. There will be plenty to do when you come back to it, I promise.
Go pet a dog today! Get some ice cream! Read a poem that feels like summer! Even better, go write one! Doesn't have to be "good", it's just for you.
Sending so much love, as always ❤️
Ben
Hey, Kards Unlimited (a book/gift/card/cute things store here in Pittsburgh, PA) has had a sign on their door for a while saying that any proceeds from their leftover Harry Potter merch will be donated to Trans YOUniting ( a local trans advocacy org).
I love reading news like this. With everything that's happening, it's good to know that there are fights that are being won.