The LGBTQIAP+ community is leading the fight against climate change

Photo credit: The New York Times

By Amanda Legórburu, Researcher at EmpoderaClima

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2023), many climate change impacts are unavoidable or irreparable. These radical changes can be limited if urgent action is taken, but global warming is here to stay -- and unfortunately, will continue to increase. At EmpoderaClima, we not only acknowledge the disproportional effect climate change has on marginalized  groups, including the LGBTQIAP+ community, but we also recognize and celebrate their protagonism and leadership to fight the climate crisis.

The LGBTQIAP+ community, in essence, has always been at the forefront of environmental justice, as visible as it is on the community’s flag, where the green of the rainbow symbolizes the connection with nature.  

Highlighting the efforts of the LGBTQIAP+ community for just climate policies is as important as understanding why they are part of the activists that protest climate injustice. A large part of the community is disproportionately affected by climate change and natural disasters, especially those with intersecting identities, such as Black and/or Indigenous queer people. 

They are the most likely to experience poverty, discrimination, and violence, which in turn limits their access to resources in times of need - such as during climate disasters. 

The context behind LGBTQIAP+ climate challenges

There are many LGBTQIAP+ activists around the world working towards a greener future for everyone. While their activism might not pertain specifically to the LGBTQIAP+ community, they are part of it, and thus represent it in some form. 

Intersectionality is also a key part of the discussion. This is understood as the interconnected nature of social categories (race, class, gender, etc.), and it creates overlapping and interdependent systems of discrimination or disadvantage. 

To strive towards a sustainable future, recognizing and highlighting the efforts of queer activists worldwide is crucial. Achieving environmental justice is only made easier if we understand and appreciate each other. 

Taking action

There are different priorities by LGBTQIAP+ climate activists around the world. For example, activists in the South of India have been raising awareness of the impact that environmental pollution has on the transgender population. 

There is a significant number of transgender individuals that live in slums and remote areas with limited resources and infrastructure, which are normally the areas most affected by natural disasters. The marginalization they face is reflected in the challenges during the recovery of these events, as they are often turned away or denied access to food, shelter, and resources. For example, after the Indian Ocean Tsunami in India (2004), the Aravanis, a group that doesn’t identify as either male or female, were excluded from temporary shelters and even from official death records. 

Kalki Subramaniam, a Coimbatore-based climate activist, is one of the many South Asian trans activists leading intersectional climate action, even amidst political crackdowns, religious backlashes, and major climate disasters that continue to affect the region. She has delivered a series of talks in the U.S. about the trans community in India, as well as their role in climate activism. She founded the Sahodari Foundation in order to empower the trans community through creative projects and workshops on environmental justice. 

Ranjita Sinha runs a shelter for abandoned trans people in Kolkata, and organizes campaigns alongside private organizations around water and sustainability; and Sowndharya Gopi, a trans activist in Chennai, has been partnering with grassroot organizations that center transgender leadership in climate action, including cleaning lakes in Pollachi and operating as civic workers in the Greater Chennai Corporation.

In the U.S., the situation has not been easier for theLGBTQIAP+ community; the Human Rights Campaign officially declared a state of emergency for LGBTQIAP+ people in the United States. More than 417 anti-LGBT bills were introduced in the first quarter of 2023, making the issue about LGBTQIAP+ rights even more urgent. 

Tortuguita, an Indigenous queer and nonbinary Venezuelan living in Georgia, a U.S. state, defended the forest and was vocally committed to nonviolence. In Georgia, there has been an increase in efforts to defend Atlanta’s South River Forest from the construction of a law enforcement training village. Local activists are calling out the environmental impact of this project, set to be built in one of Atlanta’s largest remaining green spaces, in a predominantly Black area. In the struggle against this nicknamed “Cop City”, Tortuguita was shot and killed while protesting in the forest, the second trans person killed within six weeks in that same state. 

Source: Yale Climate Connections

Pattie Gonia is a drag queen and social media influencer based in the U.S. that strives to build a closer community between nature and the LGBTQIAP+ community. She uses her platform to showcase outdoor activities in and out of drag, and advocates for dismantling systems of oppression and barriers of access for marginalized groups.

Matcha Phorn-in is an Indigenous lesbian activist living in the border of Thailand - Myanmar, where there is an active conflict. She’s the founder and director of Sangsan Anakot Yawachon, which advocates for the rights of Indigenous peoples, especially queer individuals, women, and girls. She has led the intersectional movement in the region, specially over gender-based violence, violence against the LGBTQIAP+ community, and land rights.

Dandara Sousa de Oliveira, a trans woman human rights defender from the State of Pará in the Brazilian Amazon, has fought against racism, extermination, criminalization, feminicide and discrimination of Amazon Blackness, especially in the context of capitalist developmental projects. She is the Executive Coordinator for the LesBiTrans Amazonian Collective, as well as the Secretary General of the Altamira Black Movement.

Emmanuel Peni, an activist from the coastal region of Sepik, in Papua New Guinea also known as Manu, is the President of Kapul Champus, a network that advocates for the rights of men with diverse sexualities and transgender people. He is also the coordinator of Project Sepik, which fights for the rights of people living in the Sepik region, a territory threatened by a mining project.

Many queer-led organizations also strive to become LGBTQIAP+ leaders of environmental justice. Queers4Climate, a Dutch organization, calls for a liveable planet for all communities through an intersectional lens, aiming to educate allies and represent the community in the climate movement. Out for Sustainability, a U.S.-based nonprofit, approaches climate efforts based on identity, society, and environment by mobilizing LGBTQIAP+ people to take action.

LGBTQIAP+ creators aim to bring a queer perspective to climate discussions in culture. The Institute of Queer Ecology is a collaborative organism that brings alternative solutions to environmental issues to the public through a multitude of artworks from queer, feminist, and indigenous artists. Another example is the Fire and Flood docu series created by queer activist Vanessa Raditz, which details how both Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico and the fires in Santa Rosa, both events that occurred in 2017, affected queer people. 

COP27 and the LGBTQIAP+ community

During COP27, held in Egypt in 2022, there was an undercurrent tension in the presence of the LGBTQIAP+ community during the conference. Because of the current anti-LGBT policies and human rights violations in the host country, the community ended up being silenced throughout the COP.

Many of the LGBTQIAP+ activists that attended had to hide their identities due to the hostile environment. Big Wind Carpenter, an Indigenous two-spirit climate activist, had to keep their identity hidden while in Egypt, a country that has a record of torturing and abusing LGBTQIA+ people, as well as imprisoning activists and protesters.  

Source: County10

While there are no recorded cases of punishments since 2015, LGBTQIAP+ rights in the UAE, COP28’s host country, are not really recognized, and still punishable with extreme consequences.Thus, the possibility of once again having LGBTQIAP+ voices silenced in this process is very real. 

It is obviously very important to host these types of conferences in Global South countries. Still, LGBTQIAP+ contributions for climate action are as important as everyone else’s, so, considering the intersectionality of the issue, how feasible is it to continue to hold these important meetings in places that continue to criminalize and punish marginalized groups? 

Now, more than ever, we must consider how different people are affected by extreme climate events, and how these consequences then translate into recovery efforts.

To learn more about the intersectionality between climate change and the LBGTQIAP+ community, we recommend reading EmpoderaClima's article on why climate change is an LGBTQIA+ issue.

*LGBTQIAP+ (Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual, pansexual, plus, community).