Pride Month emerged as a symbol of resistance, a living memory of all that LGBTQIA+ people have historically had to endure in order to survive. It’s true: there is pride in survival. But in today’s political context, we believe it’s just as important to remind ourselves, as a movement, that there is also pride in desire, in tenderness, in imagination, and in joy.
To live our desires, to embrace tenderness, to experience imagination and joy—these are the conditions that allow us to continue demanding our rights. Because they affirm what we deserve: to live with dignity and to dream of ourselves in safe, affirming spaces. Still, we also need the State to fully recognize and fulfill its role as a guarantor of rights for those conditions to become a reality.
From the moment we are born, the world dictates what is “right,” what is expected of us—a set of norms that endlessly reinforce the status quo. But we, the LGBTIQA+ community, don’t fit into that pre-written mold. And breaking out of it, as always, comes with consequences. In our societies, that punishment takes the shape of discrimination, institutional force, and structural violence meant to push us back into line.
In Latin America and the Caribbean, that violence becomes deadly. In 2024, nearly 73% of all reported murders of trans people worldwide occurred in our region. That’s why, for LGBTIQA+ people, to dream and to imagine ourselves—when society and the State seek to erase us—is already a political act. Imagining our lives as full, protected, and free is the first step toward transforming reality.
Across the region, collectives, organisations and networks are building realities that reimagine and repair the gaps the system leaves behind.
In Barbados, same-sex relations were only decriminalized in 2022. Yet, there are still no monitoring systems or public policies in place to ensure comprehensive care and protection of LGBTIQ+ rights. In this context, the Barbados Family Planning Association, a Member Association of IPPF, has been working hand in hand with LGBTQIA+ communities to transform sexual and reproductive health services. Together with the community, they have co-created clinical tools that respond—more empathetically and effectively—to the real needs of diverse people.
Beyond organizing: we demand. Because LGBTIQA+ people don’t just need the freedom to come together—we also need dignified, comprehensive healthcare; education free from discrimination; laws that recognize our identities; and justice in the face of violence. For instance, Profamilia, IPPF’s Member Association in Colombia, has played a key role in advancing a proposed Comprehensive Trans Law. The proposal, built by and for the community, was approved in its first debate on June 19. There’s still a long road ahead, but it’s a clear sign that rights can move forward.
So, this Pride Month, we want to affirm something simple but powerful: the future we dream of isn’t a distant utopia. We know it’s not easy. In a context where the far right is gaining ground in institutions and narratives, where our very existence is turned into a political target, it’s normal to feel like we’re constantly under attack. But even in the midst of that siege, continuing to imagine other solutions, other ways of caring for each other and organizing together, is a political necessity. Not because we ignore the danger—but because we believe in what’s possible.
We don’t have to choose between remembering pain or celebrating hope. We can do both. We can honor the memory of those who paved the way, and—by recognizing what they once imagined—walk toward futures that are more loving, more just, and more dignified.
Image credit: Twoolw (Sanja Mihovilovic)
when
region
Americas & the Caribbean
Subject
LGBTI+
