Earlier this month, the State Department took an unprecedented step of issuing a global travel alert for us queer folks. This comes on the heels of a joint FBI – Department of Homeland Security announcement about the risk of foreign terrorist violence against LGBTQ+ events. Keep reading to learn more about what the travel alert says, and my two cents on whether you should rethink your Pride travel plans.
What Does the Travel Alert Say?
The State Department’s travel alert is pretty vague.
The State Department warns Americans traveling abroad about an increased risk of terrorist violence against LGBTQIA people during Pride Month.
They encourage LGBTQ travelers to be wary in tourist areas, areas where LGBTQ+ people congregate, and Pride events, too.
They mention “long-standing messaging by foreign terrorist organizations encouraging attacks against LGBTQI+ persons.”
It’s a global alert – meaning every part of the world is included.
What Does The LGBTQ Travel Advisory Mean for Pride Celebrations?
My gut reaction to this was – what, you want me to hide out in my house until Pride month is over? Didn’t I do enough hiding in the closet???
Then I learned that the FBI and Department of Homeland Security had ALSO issued warnings for our Pride community. That made me inclined to take the news more seriously.
There is historical precedent for anti-LGBTQIA+ violence during Pride month.
The Pulse nightclub shooting happened during Pride month eight years ago. The shooter claimed to be inspired IS ideology.
Last year, IS sympathizers were arrested for attempting to attack a Pride parade in Vienna.
Queerphobia has been on the rise all over the world.
Of course there are going to be people who feel outraged over Pride celebrations. Organizations can lure those people and use them to incite violence.
Whether they are actually going to act on it…well, I’d never have imagined that someone would detonate a bomb at the Boston Marathon but that happened, and I was an Market Basket at the time (iykyk) and came out of the store to a flood of frantic texts asking if I was okay.
That experience hasn’t changed how I travel, but it did show me, in one small way, how many of the things we think are safe and take for granted can be made unsafe by one or more bad actors.
Last year in the US alone, there were 145 incidents of anti-LGBTQIA extremism during Pride month, according to GLAAD.
Focusing on the potential for violence “out there” ignores the ways that rising anti-LGBTQIA extremism makes LGBTQIA Americans all more vulnerable at home.
LGBTQIA people have spent a lot of our lives denying ourselves, downplaying our fabulousness, and trying to fit in to please other people. We were told it was not safe to be who we were, or that we would lose our family’s love unless we changed. Some of us were forced to go to conversion therapy to try to change us. Alerts like this make our identities feel weaponized, and it feels like another attempt to erase us.
I’m still skeptical about the alert. The timing feels like a coincidence. But I’ll continue to watch and learn and see how things unfold – I would hate for our community to be attacked for celebrating ourselves as much as I hate the large and small ways many of us are attacked for going about our daily lives.
If you’re on edge after these advisories, check out our Trip Planning advice, where you’ll find several articles about LGBTQ travel safety.
