Still Targets

Spectator

By Stephen Tuttle | June 13, 2026

The question gets frequently asked: Why do veterans only get one day of celebration when the LGBTQ+ community gets an entire Pride Month? Maybe it’s because we’ve rightly recognized veterans for a long time and they have not traditionally been the targets of relentless discrimination, both statutory and personal.

Pride Month, now recognized internationally, started in 1969 as a response to the Stonewall Riots and arrests the previous year. The road to progress has been bumpy.

According to the Human Right Campaign (HRC), about 31 million Americans, around 9 percent of our population, identify as a member of the LGBTQ+ community in one form or another (gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, asexual, intersex, genderqueer, etc.). Unfortunately, members of that community are still the targets of online harassment, physical violence, and even legislative oppression.

Some 43 states have passed laws somehow restricting members of the LGBTQ+ community in areas ranging from child custody to work discrimination. This year alone, according to Anti-Trans Bill Tracker, an astonishing 793 new restrictions have been introduced and 55 have already been enacted, most creating some sort of roadblock for transgender individuals.

It’s more than just legal impediments afflicting this community. The Williams Institute at UCLA Law, which keeps track of such things, says members of the LGBTQ+ community are nine times more likely to be victims of violence than the rest of the population. The violence is not just a coincidence; the FBI says attacks on members of the LGBTQ+ community are one of the top three reasons being given for hate crimes; just being gay is more than enough to be attacked.

Those traditionally most resistant to change seem to have the most difficulty accepting the LGBTQ+ community. According to the Pew Research Center, those most troubled by gender issues are usually 65 or older, usually white, usually male, attend church regularly, identify themselves as “strongly conservative,” and have not completed any level of college. Women who share all the same demographic and lifestyle metrics are significantly more tolerant.

The younger adults are, the less gender issues seem to bother them, primarily because they have grown up around the topic. They have friends with same-sex parents, might have gay siblings, and likely have LGBTQ+ friends. They absolutely do not understand what all the fuss is about since their friends and neighbors and teachers and all the rest pose absolutely no threat to anything.

In fact, despite the ongoing discrimination and obnoxious legislation, the issue was beginning to lose its edge as a political divider as we saw with our own eyes elected officials in the LGBTQ+ community behaving just as effectively, and just as poorly, as everybody else. A candidate “coming out” as gay used to be an electoral problem, but is far less so now. Or mostly less so.

Those who so delight at attacking this community have discovered their new wedge issue and are riding it into the ground. Yes, the new issue du jour for the haters is transgender individuals. Oh, my, they are trying to use the wrong bathroom so run for your life, and pass lots of legislation making their difficult lives even more difficult.

Gender dysphoria is a real condition, recognized by both the medical and mental health communities and defined by the National Health Service as a psychological mismatch between how they view themselves and their gender at birth. Some will have gender affirming surgery and a lifetime of hormone therapy as a result.

That many do not understand the condition or refuse to accept it does not discount its reality. People are not “pretending” to be something they are not.

Transgenderism and gender reassignment is extremely rare, not some epidemic poised to take over the country. According to the Williams Institute, only about 2.8 million people over the age of 13 identify as transgender, about 0.8 percent of the population.

And that takeover of sports? The NCAA says there are about 500,000 college athletes and 10—that’s right, 10—identify as transgender. Less than 0.5 percent of high school athletes identify as transgender, but that hasn't stopped 29 states from passing legislation requiring students to participate in sports and use school and public bathrooms based on their gender at birth.

There’s hardly been a takeover of the military, either. We have about 2.1 million active duty service members of which 4,240 have been diagnosed with gender dysphoria. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth wants them all booted from the military despite zero evidence they negatively impact readiness or performance in the field. Members of the LGBTQ+ community have been serving this country’s military with honor and distinction while we were becoming a country and ever since.

We celebrate Pride Month to remind everyone that our friends, neighbors and loved ones in the LGBTQ+ community deserve the same respect and consideration as everyone else.