LGBTQ+ Artists Show Us What Celebrating Visibility & Inclusivity Looks Like to Them
The concepts of LGBTQ+ visibility, inclusivity, and community have, in many ways, found renewed urgency over the past two years.
Despite a record number of people in the US identifying as LGBTQ+, new challenges — and longstanding yet newly exacerbated ones — threaten to make queer people invisible, all at a time when the global LGBTQ+ community is facing increased violence, discrimination, and poverty.
The COVID-19 pandemic continues around the world, shuttering queer spaces in its wake when many people have nowhere else to turn, and putting added strain on young people’s mental health. Anti-LGBTQ+ legislation has skyrocketed across the US, with more than 300 bills introduced in 2022 alone, seemingly intent on erasing the community’s very existence. And queer people of color, especially of trans and non-binary experience, continue to face disproportionate violence simply for being themselves, while LGBTQ+ people with disabilities face heightened systemic barriers to health care, employment, and more.