By Robyn Ochs & Ellyn Ruthstrom
The Trump Administration began an assault on transgender Americans upon taking office in January 2025. Among their actions: banning transgender people from military service, restricting the option for trans and intersex folks to change the sex field of their passports to reflect their gender identity and eliminating the “X” option; prohibiting gender-affirming care for trans people under the age of 19; implementing policies forcing trans women into facilities based on sex assigned at birth; rescinding policies protecting trans (and other LGBQ) individuals from discrimination in health care; blocking schools from requiring teachers and other school staff to use names and pronouns that align with trans students’ gender identity rather than the sex they were assigned at birth, eliminating federal funding for LGBTQ+-related research studies, and removing mentions of trans people from federal websites.
One of the sites from which transgender people were erased was the Stonewall National Monument—this despite the reality that transgender individuals were central to the 1969 Stonewall Uprising. Just one month in, transgender people were digitally erased from the Stonewall National Monument. And on May 28th, the administration went on to erase bisexual people from their History and Culture page. The Stonewall National Monument page originally stated that “before the 1960s, almost everything about living openly as a lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer (LGBTQ+) person was illegal.” As of publication, all references to transgender people remain deleted, and one reference to bisexual people has been added back.
Within our own bi+ community, we must keep the history alive, remembering that out-and-proud bisexual rights activist Brenda Howard—referred to as “the Mother of Pride”—was a key organizer of the Christopher Street Liberation Day March on the first anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising, beginning the enduring tradition of Pride marches.
On a happier note, Maud Angelica Behn has become the first member of the Norwegian royal family to publicly come out as LGBTQ+. She wrote in an Instagram post: “Happy Pride from a bisexual person. This year’s Pride was absolutely amazing and there was so much love.” Her mother, Princess Martha Louise, showed her support by attending Norway’s largest LGBTQ+ festival in Oslo.
New resource for the LGBTQ+ Community: The creators of an online resource for queer-friendly drug rehab centers, reached out to BWQ to get the word out to our readers about their website. https://drugrehabus.org/rehabs/treatment/lgbtqa.
There’s more good news and more sad news. The good news is that Still Bisexual has produced a directory of Bi+ Therapists. Each therapist answered questions about how they would handle bi+ scenarios/challenges with clients in a way Still Bisexual felt was bi-competent. Nonetheless, they cannot attest to the quality of their care in other regards. The bi+ community’s mental health needs are often overlooked; “LGBTQ+ affirming” often hides that they are not specifically trained on bi+ needs.
The sad news is that Still Bisexual is closing down the organization for future programs and new developments. However, StillBi.org will remain as an online resource and will host the directory for many years to come. A huge shoutout to Nicole Kristal who saw a need and created a wonderful organization that used the power of storytelling to share the real life experiences of bi+ people, helping to validate and celebrate our lives, loves, and identities.