Pride season is already in high gear, and HRC is celebrating our beautiful LGBTQ+ community — without exception — at more than 200 festivals across the country. We can’t wait to engage with our members and supporters, so if you see an HRC booth at your local Pride festival, stop by and say hello!

We’re always happy to talk our work to ensure equality for all members of the community. We have information on how to get involved or deepen your involvement with our work. Stop by for our Pride swag, but be sure to check out our resource guides as well. At a time when our opponents are trying to silence our stories and erase our history, it’s crucial that we show up as our loudest, brightest, most authentic selves and take pride in who we are and what we stand for. And don’t forget to check out HRC on social media and our website to engage with our Pride digital campaign here.

If they come for me in the morning they will come for you in the night.

Those words, emblazoned on the cover of this issue of Equality, serve as “a warning sign,” according to visual artist Patrick Martinez, who selected the 1970s quote from James Baldwin and Angela Davis for his neon rendition, called “Morning and Night (James Baldwin & Angela Davis).” Martinez and HRC recently partnered to create a limited-edition T-shirt featuring the artwork.

Martinez, based in Los Angeles, said, “It’s a haunting quote, and I hope in a good way it haunts other people in a productive way to respond … to injustices, and speak to things that they don’t feel that they can swallow.”

Purchase the shirt here. Wear it to protest the same issues of oppression and discrimination that affect us today — and speak out for equality, diversity and justice.

Earlier in June, HRC President Kelley Robinson and Geena Rocero, a Filipino-born American model, influencer and transgender advocate, took over HRC’s Instagram channel for an IG Live in honor of AANHPI Heritage and Pride months.

The conversation focused on Rocero’s inspirational journey, beginning as a trans pageant queen from Manila, to the present as an internationally recognized model and global advocate for transgender rights. Robinson and Rocero spoke about Rocero’s striking new memoir, “Horse Barbie,” and highlighted how Rocero’s advocacy and visibility intersects with HRC’s work supporting LGBTQ+ advocates around the world. Watch the powerful conversation on our Instagram.

Amid the breathtaking beauty of Broken Bow, Oklahoma, six dads came together in March 2022 to connect with nature and, most importantly, with each other and the love they have for their LGBTQ+ children. Led by Dennis Shepard, father of slain gay college student Matthew Shepard, the five other dads met via HRC’s Parents for Transgender Equality Council, and their trip was chronicled in “The Dads,” a documentary that debuted at SXSW this spring and was directed and produced by Luchina Fisher, another PTEC parent.

Current PTEC members Jose Trujillo, Stephen Chukumba and Frank Gonzales joined former PTEC members Peter Betz and Wayne Maines, as well as Shepard, a longtime friend of HRC, as they shared their freshly caught dinner as well as stories over a bonfire about both their hopes and fears for their trans kids, and what calls each of them to fight for a more equal future for their children.

Learn more about “The Dads" here.

HRC Foundation’s Welcoming Schools’ impact is growing, and during a time when our community is facing unprecedented attacks. In the face of book bans, anti-transgender bathroom bills and sports bans, the Welcoming Schools program, in its 15th year, introduced new resources and provided critical services and training to a record number of educators and school leaders over the past year.

The program created new conference modules, instructional resource guides for secondary educators, toolkits and booklists. Welcoming Schools is also in the process of ensuring all resources are accessible to those that speak Spanish, which will be available on the program’s website.

Read the Welcoming Schools’ 2023 annual report here.