Queer strength amidst Trump's tyranny
- Ariana Glaser
- Aug 1
- 5 min read
With over 170,000 attending throughout the two weeks of festivities, Miami Beach saw a record attendance for its annual Pride festival this past spring.
Through my involvement at the University of Miami’s LGBTQ center, I had the honor of riding a float through the parade. On top of the Coca-Cola sponsored vehicle, I could see everything. I could see the signs and the shirts, the colors and the smiles, the light shining through an otherwise bleak country.
I wasn’t alone in feeling like the atmosphere was different than that of years past. There was a quiet hope and a loud perseverance echoing through the crowd. Following the appointment of Donald Trump to the presidency, we knew the road ahead was a rocky one—but we couldn’t have known just how rocky it would be.
Attending school in Florida has been difficult since the election. There’s bright-red propaganda everywhere—at least, for those who care to search for it:
On every corner, there’s a loud, prevalent presence of Republican men ready to jeer at any liberals they see. Kai Trump will be joining the UM community starting in August 2025. Some students have gone the extra mile to market UM-inspired Trump hats, promoting designs which creatively substitute the ‘u’ in his surname for the UM logo.
I can clearly recall how lonely I felt when news of Trump’s victory first broke. Whilst my friends that stayed in New York had classes cancelled and leaned on each other, I felt like the rest of the world was turning all while I was standing still. Though I was lucky that the impact wasn’t felt too strongly in Miami—at least not to the point where “Women are Property” signs were held up across campus like at Texas State University—it almost felt more dystopian the way no one was reacting. No one else was hurting. No one else cared.
There were, of course, the people who condemned me for feeling as strongly as I did. “The world didn’t end last time,” they said. “You’ll be fine.”
Truth be told, I was too young to remember the full effects of Trump’s first term. I also hadn’t come to terms with my bisexuality yet. However, I can still remember how easily prejudiced voices were amplified. I can still remember being added to several group chats “Put Jews in a Crematorium” or “Burn All Jews.”
And why shouldn’t they? The same way by electing Kamala Harris America might have taught young women that they could be anything, American instead taught young men that they can be anything—a rapist, cheat, homophobe, misogynist, insurrectionist, convicted felon, racist, liar, or pedophile—and they can still be President of the United States.
The fact of the matter is that Trump himself warned America what his second presidency would look like, but if voters neglected to listen to him, they need only have looked at everything he did the first time around to understand why members of the LGBTQ+ community fought so arduously against a Republican victory last November.
And we were right to be worried.
In July alone, the Donald Trump Administration cut nutrition assistance (SNAP), a cut which disproportionally affects LGBTQ adults. Trump threatened removal of federal funding against organizations working to protect teen pregnancy if they include queer-inclusive content in their teachings. The Department of Justice issued more than 20 subpoenas to doctors and healthcare institutions providing gender-affirming care to transgender patients.
And perhaps his most evil, wreckless, completely inexcusable act? Donald Trump eliminated the 988 suicide and crisis hotline for queer youth. A hotline which, coincidentally enough, saw a record number of callers following Trump’s victory.
The effects are nationwide, but they feel smaller, closer. Through my position as a newsletter writer at the Center, I’ve seen firsthand how even private universities are bound to the will of the Trump Administration (and in Florida especially, we’ve also got Ron DeSantis to worry about). Since the reformations against Diversity Equity Inclusion (DEI), I’m required to censor my writing. As a writer for a queer student center, I can’t write freely about equality initiatives. It’s discriminatory, and it’s an issue of censorship that has no place in a supposedly “free” country.
Donald Trump ran on the ideation of "making America great again," but when you look at the America he's trying to get back, it's abundantly clear that the greatness he seeks benefits only himself and his white, upper-class peers.
Rather than tax the rich, Trump strips the poor, and the economic prosperity he justifies assists only those who don't need any assistance.
More to the point, the presumable golden age he seeks to reinstate refers to the mid-20th century, a time where men were carted off to war and women were expected to do little more than cook, clean or tend to their husbands.
And queerness? Overruled by Ronald Reagen dehumanizing gay men during the AIDS epidemic, the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" military standard, and a genuine distaste for anything out of the communal binary.
America's not perfect, but it never was. It was founded on principles of slavery, white supremacy, and superiority. We're moving forward by accepting diversity and culture as important statutes of the American heritage, and that scares Donald Trump and his conservative followers.
The older generation wasn't lucky enough to have at their fingertips all the resources we do, but rather than open their eyes to all the things they don't know, they close their eyes and grasp hold of the little that they do. They refuse to understand the world is changing, and if you don't change with it, you're going to get left behind.
For a while, we made wonderful progress. Women were equals. Queerness was normalized and homophobia wasn't. Now Roe v. Wade is a thing of the past and discrimination on the basis of sexuality or gender isn't of concern to the government. Donald Trump is doing his very best to undo everything the progressives have worked for simply because he can.
We're not even a quarter of the way through Trump's presidency, and he's grooming J.D. Vance and others to follow in his dictatorial footsteps. There is no doubt that we're in for a long road of tyranny and trouble that will take our generation years to undo.
While skies are undeniably gray and lights are undeniably dim, the greatest defense we have now is our voices. Trump may strive to silence the press, but he cannot and will not silence the people. Speak up and speak out. Use your voice and use it well.
And pride month may be long over, and for me and several others, this year's pride may have felt a little less colorful than in years past. But raise your flags, and celebrate queerness. For when we have nothing else, we have love. It's the one thing Trump and his followers will never truly know—and thus it's the one thing they can never truly take from us.
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