Louisville Pride Says QPOC, Trans Inclusion Critical Under Shifting Political Landscape

The new year brought the arrival of new administrations and legislatures across the United States. In Kentucky and beyond, that has meant renewed threats to things like gender-affirming health care, diversity and inclusion programs and protection from anti-LGBTQ discrimination.

For queer residents — and LGBTQ residents of color especially — political moments like this can heighten the need for resources and community support, according to Ebony Cross. Cross serves as executive director of the Louisville Pride Foundation, a nonprofit that aims to foster community and equity for LGBTQ community members and all residents.

“As this breaking news comes out, we see a lot more foot traffic in the center,” Cross said. “Our trans community is concerned. Our LGBTQ community is concerned. Our Black community is concerned.”

Key to Louisville Pride’s mission is filling in gaps in support for residents of all backgrounds. As policies targeting LGBTQ people and people of color continue to arise, Cross said making resources accessible on the local level becomes all the more crucial.

 

DEI under attack

Last November, Republican candidates swept Kentucky’s presidential election, and all but one race for the U.S. House of Representatives. Cross said the election’s results triggered immediate worry.

“My reaction was just like half of the country,” she said. “It was: ‘What are we going to do?’”

In his second term, President Donald Trump has set the repeal of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs as an administrative priority. Republican-led state legislatures nationwide have followed suit in restricting DEI resources for publicly funded offices and programs.

Cross said when people approach the topic of DEI, many overlook the variety of communities that benefit from DEI programming.

“You’re speaking of the veterans. The elderly. The LGBTQ, the BIPOC population,” she said. “DEI doesn’t just center on one specific thing. … When you pull that, it isn’t just harming one culture or group of people. It’s harming more than one section of our community.”

For Louisville Pride, focusing on marginalized groups means helping residents find therapists, support groups and mental health resources specialized to their identity and background, Cross said.

Or, it can mean providing identity-inclusive educational resources and community spaces. Recently, a growing number of Black community organizations have visited Louisville Pride’s center and booked its spaces, Cross said.

Cross said looking at the history of Black and feminist organizing in moments of hardship can contextualize what residents are going through, and offer a light at the end of the tunnel.

“We’ve been here before,” she said. “I look at all the work that has been done for us to get where we are. We just have to pick up the torch.”

 

Trans rights

Transgender identity and access to gender-affirming health care were focal points of last year’s election, not to mention this year’s legislative session at the Kentucky State Capitol.

In January, Trump signed an executive order to ban youth below age 19 from receiving gender-affirming medical care, although a federal judge temporarily blocked the order on Feb. 13.

On Feb. 18, the Kentucky Senate passed Senate Bill 2, which would prohibit transgender people incarcerated in state-run prisons and jails from accessing hormone therapy. The bill still needs approval from both the Kentucky House of Representatives and Gov. Andy Beshear before taking effect, but has deepened concerns over the future of trans health care in the state.

“Our trans youth and our trans community [are] concerned about their HRT, and receiving those health services that they need,” Cross said. “We don’t know what’s going to happen. It changes from day to day. So we continue to do the work that we do.”

Louisville Pride partners with trans-inclusive providers already operating in the area, and helps connect trans community members seeking health resources to someone who can meet their needs. Some information comes from those who have already accessed certain health services and had positive experiences with them.

“We don’t want to get too in detail of what their personal matters are. Just a general sense of the care that they need, in terms of how we can support them,” Cross said. “We know the direction to point them.”

Cross said her organization also offers support groups, where residents can speak to medical experts and other trans people about things like hormone therapy and gender-affirming care. 

“We can kind of help comfort them and just give them a guide on where to go and how to go about things as these changes are happening,” she said.

 

‘When we all come together’

 

Louisville Pride was founded in 2014, and much of its current leadership became involved in LGBTQ organizing well before then. Cross said this long-term connection to Louisville makes the group especially prepared to meet community members’ needs in moments of both calm and concern.

“In terms of how we operate, we have changed absolutely nothing. We have been in this fight for decades,” she said. “We’ve just been on top of making sure that we add necessary programming if needed.”

As a Black, masc-presenting lesbian, Cross said it can be taxing to respond to threats against communities she belongs to. She tells the Louisville Pride team to prioritize their own well-being, but has found the urgency of the current political moment motivational.

“It can, at times, be exhausting. But for me and my heart and soul, I’ve always felt like I’ve been born and bred to help people, especially in the LGBTQ community and our Black community,” she said. “My motto is: ‘Let’s get to work.’”

Cross said Louisville Pride has a wide slate of events coming up that aim to foster community and connect residents to resources, ranging from art nights to social events to food pantry open hours.

And, for Cross, prioritizing inclusion and community-building across lines of identity makes this work even more effective.

“We can make a bigger impact when we all come together in this fight,” Cross said. “That’s what it’s going to take. It’s going to take all of us.”