This is a heavy and urgent moment for our country and our community. It is normal to feel exhausted or disheartened or to even want to tune out. But now is not the time to disengage or isolate. We can find hope in each other by showing up together in defense of our beautiful community.
The seriousness of our situation cannot be overstated. Across Texas and the nation, we are experiencing the hostility of our government, the critical weakening of our constitutional frameworks and persistent attacks on our collective dignity.
We have seen executive orders deny the existence of trans individuals, order them removed from their Armed Forces positions and deprive them of earned benefits. The Department of Justice has advised officers for correctional facilities to stop considering LGBTQ+ safety standards. We have seen academic research about our community and others vilified, defunded, and shut down.
The attacks on diversity initiatives have been devastating and far-reaching, impacting the practices of public and private entities across the economy, education, and civic life.
In Texas, rather than having a state government that boldly defends its residents, we have one that amuses itself with political theater and cruelty. Many of our state legislators and officials are the architects of aggressively anti-LGBTQ+ policies and messaging, wielding influence that stretches well beyond our own borders.
But if history teaches us anything, it is that we can make a difference when we come together. Now is the time to draw each other closer in solidarity, mutual support, and protection.
When Texans come together to push back, we do more than protect our own communities — we help model a path forward for others across the country. Forging new relationships and strengthening existing ones is a key part of modeling this work. Building resilience and increasing civic engagement among historically underserved and marginalized communities serves to benefit all of us.
Our strength is in our community.
Equality Texas is the leading statewide nonprofit fighting for LGBTQ+ rights in Texas. It comprises two branches: One focuses on political advocacy to defend our rights, and the other engages in education and community organizing to strengthen our collective power.
I serve on the Board of Equality Texas because I am immensely grateful to the generations of LGBTQ+ activists, elected officials, staff members, and everybody who have fought for us to be where we are today. I am also grateful for the present-day leaders who are championing our community all the way from the neighborhood-level to the halls of power in Austin and Washington, D.C.
I want to honor them, and hopefully, contribute in my own way to a better future for the next generation of queer Texans.
There are many ways to stand with our community. This weekend, on Friday night, March 27, we will gather in Dallas for Love Equality — not to ignore the challenges we face, but to meet them together. The event will benefit Equality Texas and help fund their efforts. It is both a call to action and a reminder that there is strength in joy, hope in community, and power in collective action.
I hope you will join us. When we come together and funnel our resources toward shared goals, we create the momentum needed to protect dignity, advance justice, and secure equality.
Sarah Depew has a master’s degree in psychology and a law degree from the College of William & Mary. She is a member of the Equality Texas Board of Directors and the current president of Collin County Stonewall Democrats.