Pride Month: Western expert available to discuss rise in anti 2SLGBTQ+ legislation in the U.S.

As Pride Month gets underway, experts are highlighting a troubling rise in legislative attacks on 2SLGBTQ+ people south of the border.

WG Pearson (per/pers) notes that according to Trans Legislation Tracker there have been 556 anti-trans bills across 49 states in the United States in the first six months of 2023.

“We are at an unprecedented moment in history where 2SLGBTQ+ people are being targeted politically in increasing numbers,” says Pearson.

Pearson is an associate professor and chair of the department of gender, sexuality and women’s studies and is available to media for interviews.

Despite political and social gains, such as the legalization of same-sex marriage and the right of same-sex couples to adopt, there has also been a particular increase in legislation targeting transgender children, Pearson says.

“It’s important that allies step up because it’s very common for people who are homophobic to assume that theirs is the majority opinion. The LGBTQ community is being used as a scapegoat to take attention away from economic problems, climate change and a whole host of issues far more important than the question of who loves whom,” says Pearson.

As chair in the department of gender, sexuality and women’s studies, Pearson’s work is in three inter-related areas: queer Canadian culture, queer science fiction and Indigenous cinemas. Per is interested in the ways in which cultural producers in their demographics negotiates dominant cultural ideas about sexuality, gender, race, Indigeneity and class.

Commentary reflects the perspective and scholarly interest of Western faculty members and is not an articulation of official university policy on issues being addressed.

MEDIA CONTACT: Justin Zadorsky, Media Relations Officer, Western University, 226.377.1673 (mobile), jzadorsk@uwo.ca.