精东影业

Karla Jay remembers joining the second night of street protests during the 1969 Stonewall uprising in New York City. For her, and for so many other LGBTQ+ people, something had shifted: People were angry. They didn鈥檛 want things to go back to normal鈥攂ecause normal meant police raids. Normal meant living underground. It meant hiding who they were at their jobs and from their families. They wanted a radical change.  

Radical change meant organizing. Jay joined a meeting with the Gay Liberation Front, which would become the听听for the听听and proliferate in chapters across the country. At those meetings, she remembers discussing what freedom could look like. Holding hands with a lover while walking down the street without fear of getting beaten up, one person said. Another said they鈥檇 like to get married. At the time, those dreams seemed impossible.听

Jay, now 78, is worried that history will repeat itself. She鈥檚 worried that LGBTQ+ people will be put in the dark again by the draconian policies of a second Trump administration. 

鈥淎re things worse than they were before Stonewall? Not yet,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 certainly possible that people will have to go back to underground lives, that trans people will have to flee to Canada, but it鈥檚 not worse yet.鈥� 

The 19th spoke with several LGBTQ+ elders, including Jay, about what survival looks like under a hostile political regime and what advice they would give to young LGBTQ+ people right now. 

Many states protect LGBTQ+ people through听听that ensure fair access to housing, public accommodations, and employment. Supreme Court precedent does the same through听. Other states have passed听听for trans people.听But to Jay, a cisgender lesbian, it all still feels precarious. The Trump administration is trying to make it听听to live openly and safely, and lawmakers in听听want to undermine marriage equality.听

鈥淲e have forgotten that the laws are written to protect property and not to protect people. They鈥檙e written to protect white men and their property, and historically, women and children were their property,鈥� she said. 鈥淭o expect justice from people who write laws to protect themselves has been a fundamental error of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans community.鈥澨�

To fight back, LGBTQ+ Americans need to organize, Jay said. That starts with thinking locally鈥攕upporting local artists, independent stores, and small presses, as well as LGBTQ+ organizations taking demonstrable political action and protecting queer culture. 

鈥淪ee what you can do without going crazy. If you can focus on one thing, and you can spend one hour a week, or you can spend one day a week, that鈥檚 much better than being depressed and doing nothing,鈥� she said. 鈥淏ecause the person you鈥檙e going to help is yourself. This is the time for all of us to step up.鈥澨�

To fight back, LGBTQ+ Americans need to organize. That starts with thinking locally鈥攕upporting local artists, independent stores, and small presses, as well as LGBTQ+ organizations taking demonstrable political action and protecting queer culture.鈥澨�

Renata Ramos feels obligated to share her experiences with young people. As a 63-year-old trans Latina, she wants young people to know that so many of their elders have already been through hard times鈥攚hich means that they can make it, too, including during this moment. 

鈥淚鈥檓 not scared in the least. Because we have fought so many battles鈥攖he elders. We have fought so many battles, with medicine, with HIV, with marching on Washington, with watching our friends die,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 been one war after another in our community that we have always won. We have always been resilient. We have always stood strong. We have always fought for our truth, and we鈥檙e still here. They haven鈥檛 been able to erase us.鈥� 

As Ramos watches the Trump administration use the听听to target transgender Americans and erase LGBTQ+ history, she鈥檚 not afraid for herself. She鈥檚 afraid for young LGBTQ+ people, especially young trans people who now find themselves at the center of a growing political and cultural war. If someone transitioned six months ago, she said, they now have a target on their back鈥攁nd little to no experience with what that feels like.听

鈥淭hey don鈥檛 know what it is like to be a soldier going into war, as far as social issues. So I fear for them,鈥� she said. 鈥淲ho wouldn鈥檛 be scared?鈥� 

Criss Christoff Smith has seen firsthand what that fear can look like. On Jan. 28, at 3 a.m., he received a phone call from an LGBTQ+ person who was considering taking their own life. This was a stranger鈥攕omeone who admired from afar Smith鈥檚 advocacy as a Black trans man and Jamaican immigrant. This was someone who had been considering a gender transition for years, Smith said, who was now feeling broken. He spoke with them for two hours. 

鈥淚t鈥檚 been quite dark,鈥� Smith said. The onslaught of policies targeting marginalized people and the turbocharged news cycle are working to keep Black and trans people in a constant state of fear and uncertainty, he said.  

鈥淚 tell everyone in my community, you have to stop responding to those alerts and just try to go inward,鈥� he said. 鈥淔ind a space of peace and spirituality.鈥�

To Smith, who is 64, looking inward can mean reflecting on what鈥檚 still here. Although the Trump administration is going to make daily life harder for LGBTQ+ people, he said, laws can鈥檛 be undone with the stroke of a pen on an executive order. LGBTQ+ Americans need to find whatever source of strength and peace they can find right now鈥攁nd try to remove themselves from the daily fray as much as possible鈥攚hile still finding ways to take action.  

鈥淭his is the time when we really have to find community, where we really have to hone in on our spiritual feelings and try to talk to someone. Don鈥檛 keep it to yourself,鈥� he said. Joining protests or lobbying days at state capitols are great ways to find community in-person, Smith said鈥攖o be around like-minded people and to not feel so alone. 

鈥淭hat鈥檚 the best space to be in, not home alone and in your feelings and in your mind, because we can get lost there thinking negatively. So we have to stay positive and stay with like-minded people, and have those people constantly around you to reassure you and just hold you tight in that space,鈥� he said. 

鈥淚t鈥檚 been one war after another in our community that we have always won. We have always been resilient. We have always stood strong. We have always fought for our truth, and we鈥檙e still here. They haven鈥檛 been able to erase us.鈥� 

Protests against the administration鈥檚 hostile LGBTQ+ policies have been ongoing鈥攊ncluding outside the Stonewall National Monument. In at least one way, history is already repeating itself. 

The National Park Service deleted all references to transgender and queer people from its web page honoring the 1969 Stonewall uprising鈥攖he most well-known moment from LGBTQ+ history in the country鈥攍eaving references to only lesbian, gay and bisexual people.  to protest. Among them was Renee Imperato, a 76-year-old trans woman and New York native. 

鈥淧rotests like this are our survival,鈥� she told The 19th over email. 鈥淭he rhetoric of this administration is driving a violent onslaught against our community. The Stonewall Rebellion is not over. We are at war, and we are still fighting back. What other choice do we have?鈥�

Jay, herself an old hand at joining protests and demonstrations, said that she鈥檚 been afraid before every one of them. She鈥檚 lost sleep the night before and feared for her safety鈥攂ut she did it anyway. 

鈥淚鈥檓 afraid I鈥檒l be beaten. I鈥檓 afraid I鈥檒l be arrested. But if you don鈥檛 do something even though you鈥檙e afraid, they win,鈥� she said.

This story originally appeared in .