Culture and Social Issues

LGBT Activist Group Launches Tour Of Mostly Red States Amid Trump Admin’s DEI Crackdown

Human Rights Campaign National Headquarters (Kurt Kaiser/Wikimedia Commons)

LGBT activist group the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) announced Monday that it is launching a tour across several U.S. cities, predominately in states which voted for President Donald Trump, in an attempt to “elevate LGBTQ+ voices.”

The tour, dubbed the “American Dreams Tour: Equality Across America,” is mainly focused on red and purple states and is aiming to “amplify LGBTQ+ stories, address HIV and healthcare realities for the community, and chart a powerful path forward toward equality,” according to an announcement. The HRC’s tour will begin on Wednesday in Columbus, Ohio, and will also include stops in several other red and swing states, including Georgia, Nevada, Tennessee and Texas, according to the HRC.

“The American dream has never belonged to just one kind of person. It’s been built by people who dared to demand more — by women who marched, by workers who organized, by black folks who bled for freedom, and by LGBTQ+ people who refused to disappear,” Kelley Robinson, president of the HRC and Human Rights Campaign Foundation, wrote in the press release. “And every time this country tried to erase us, we rebuilt something stronger — with our stories, our truth, and our refusal to be silent.”

“This tour is about reclaiming that legacy. We’re traveling to the places where harm is happening—and where hope is rising,” Robinson added. “We’re showing up for communities who’ve been told they don’t belong and reminding them, and the country, that they are the American dream.”

The tour announcement comes amid the Trump administration’s crackdown on gender ideology and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives across the U.S. Many major corporate sponsors notably scaled back their involvement in LGBTQ “pride” events across the nation this summer amid mounting political pressure, the Daily Caller News Foundation previously reported.

“For years, our movement made critical progress through legal strategies and electoral victories,” Robinson wrote further. “While those efforts must and will continue, at this moment, it’s clear that building lasting equality requires us to expand support, shift narratives, and grow the visible, vocal community of people standing on the side of LGBTQ+ equality. Together, with 1 million voices raised, we will change hearts, shape minds, and build the foundation for lasting equality.”

Since 2002, the HRC has released their annual Corporate Equality Index (CEI) survey, which scores corporations based on their “policies, practices, and benefits” pertaining to LGBTQ employees. The organization has previously called on corporations to provide insurance coverage for child sex change drugs and genital surgeries.

The HRC did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.