By Jose Vazquez
Freedom has never been a passive gift. It is a fight we carry forward, generation after generation.
Living in Alabama, I’m aware that every right we enjoy was won by the people—not simply granted by lawmakers. Black elders in Montgomery remind us that the Montgomery Bus Boycott wasn’t just a symbolic protest—it was 381 days of relentless organizing, sacrifice, and resistance. These histories are blueprints for our movements today, and we need them now more than ever.
As a volunteer for Montgomery Pride United, I have witnessed how the LGBTQ movement is sustained by elders who survived bar crackdowns, led revolutionary marches, and endured the HIV/AIDS crisis. And now, we’re seeing the state of Alabama work to intentionally suppress this crucial history.
On the federal level, under the current Administration, LGBTQ people are facing an aggressive, coordinated effort to censor our stories and restrict equal access to public life. Currently, 456 anti-LGBTQ bills have been introduced across the United States. Here’s what is at stake in Alabama:
- House Bill 4 introduces the vague term “gender-oriented conduct” into the state obscenity law—an intentional tactic to ban books about queer and trans people from public libraries.
- House Bill 67 is a drag ban also designed to target and criminalize innocent trans people for simply existing in schools or libraries.
- House Bill 244 expands “Don’t Say Gay” through 12th grade, further isolating queer and trans youth while censoring free speech, LGBTQ history, and the contributions of queer and trans leaders from classrooms.
- House Bill 246, the “Pronoun Bill,” would prohibit public school, college, and university employees from using a student’s name or pronouns without explicit written parental permission.
- The inaccurate and harmful act ignoring the existence of intersex, transgender, and nonbinary people , was recently signed by Governor Ivey. It enshrines medically inaccurate definitions of “male” and “female”and aims to block people from their own accurate identity documents and justifies bathroom restrictions that are vague and dangerously enforced. This bill takes effect on October 1.
Anti-LGBTQ bills have emboldened extremists on the ground in Alabama.
These bills are not just targeting LGBTQ people, they are a direct attack on First Amendment freedoms. When Alabama lawmakers passed an anti-DEI law last year, a Black Student Union was forced to give up its meeting space, excluding Black students from necessary and safe places to find community. These actions are part of a broader strategy to roll back civil rights and silence those who challenge systemic oppression. In 2023, lawmakers threatened the Alabama Department of Archives and History’s budget for inviting Invisible Histories, a community archive organization, to present a lecture on Alabama’s rich, and too often untold, LGBTQ History.
Since 2024, we have seen an increase in challenged and banned books across public libraries – including The Pronoun Book, The Meaning of Pride, The Hate U Give, and Being You: a First Conversation about Gender. Our local LGBTQ community center, managed by Montgomery Pride United, has also heard from many queer teens that they fear repercussions by teachers and students alike for being themselves. This onslaught of oppressive laws is meant to make life harder for queer and transgender people in the state.
But here’s what lawmakers fail to understand: LGBTQ people are not leaving Alabama. No amount of hateful legislation will erase us. We are active in our communities, schools, churches, and in every facet of public life across the state. Our history is our power. And right now, lawmakers are not just trying to ban books—they are trying to deny we exist online and in real life. You can help ensure this never happens by joining the collective effort to preserve LGBTQ histories, both digitally and physically, by signing up with Invisible Histories, a community-based archive working with LGBTQ organizations across the South to protect the legacy of LGBTQ Alabamians and help safeguard the online records of DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) programs set to be eliminated because of the President’s executive order.
We’ve survived attacks against LGBTQ people before, and this time, we have the tools to protect our history. Our elders were battle-tested, building movements from the ground up and laying the foundation for the social progress we no longer can take for granted. It is our turn to ensure their wisdom and resilience are imparted to future generations. LGBTQ Alabamians shouldn’t have to leave home to thrive, and those intent on making life intolerable for the most marginalized in our state should never be in the majority.
Jose Vazquez (they/them) organizes in Montgomery, Alabama, via South Florida. They are on the founding team of the Bayard Rustin Community Center, the only LGBTQ space and thrift store in central Alabama, and on the Board of Invisible Histories, a community-based archive.