As queer and trans climate justice advocates, our fight is deeply personal. Our communities, friends, and chosen families are particularly vulnerable as rapid changes in climate lead to more natural disasters, environmental instability, and scarcity. We also share an understanding of how queer wisdom is essential to creating a livable future for all of us.
Trans and queer communities, especially black and brown and low-income queer and trans people, live on the frontlines of climate change. Many young queer and trans people do not have the resources or ability to flee verbal, emotional, and physical violence in their hometowns. Instead, around the world, they are often abandoned by family and forced onto the streets with little to no support to survive.
Consider that 40 percent of U.S. youth who experience homelessness identify as LGBTQ, even though they represent just 7 percent of the population. Moreover, Queer and trans people are concentrated in coastal cities such as Miami, New Orleans, New York and San Francisco at high risk for sea level rise and increasing storm surges. As the planet warms, more frequent and severe storms, wildfires, and floods will exacerb... Read more