US Government Makes it Riskier for LGBTQ+ Folks to Travel
They’ve snipped out the words “queer” and “trans” from the State Department’s travel website, frozen trans passports, and dumped LGBTQ+ travel resources from once-trusted .gov pages. The feds have a problem with queer people, and we have a problem with the feds.
Who Would Travel in a Time Like This?
Travel isn’t synonymous with vacation. Some folks travel locally to attend a protest, or to another state to attend a funeral. They might travel internationally to visit family. Surgery and certain cosmetic procedures can be much more affordable abroad. Or maybe it is a hard-earned vacation, a honeymoon for a recently married lesbian couple, or a retirement celebration for a surviving gay elder. Regardless of why you are traveling, it’s gotten more dangerous for LGBTQ+ people.
It’s not just international travel at stake. Interstate travel is risky because U.S. states are now aggressively targeting LGBTQ+ rights. Idaho seeks to overturn same-sex marriage, Florida has erased its LGBTQ travel page, and Mississippi allows businesses to deny service to LGBTQ people under its “Religious Liberty Act.”
Legal Troubles Abound
Travel can sometimes be necessary for social justice work. Let’s say you’re a trans person who wants to carpool to Sacramento to attend a protest. If you get swept up and arrested, things could get dicey. We have local and state laws that mean trans people should theoretically be sent to the jail they prefer in terms of gender, but that protection at the federal level doesn’t exist. The National Lawyers Guild provides training on what to do if you get arrested and we highly recommend visiting their resources if you are traveling for anything related to social justice.
Anti-LGBTQ+ laws range from topics including:
- Employment
- Housing
- Public Accommodations
- Anti-Conversion Therapy
- School Anti-Bullying
- Transgender Healthcare Insurance Protections
- Gender Marker Updates On Identification Documents
- Hate Crimes
- Discrimination In Child Welfare Services
- Anti-Transgender Bathroom Bans
- Sports Bans
Some of these topics have more impact on visitors while others primarily affect residents. There are resources available for travelers, though.
Resources for Traveling While Gay
Embassies and consulates are access points for information on legal protections when traveling abroad. You should always look up the location of your nation’s embassy when entering into a new country in case you lose your phone, passport, or wallet. But these days it’s hard to rely on our government to keep us safe, abroad or domestically.
The Human Rights Campaign published a handy guidebook that gives advice for how to identify friendly states, which is helpful as the situation continues developing. Even driving through a state can be potentially dangerous, so if you are planning a roadtrip take the precautions they list.
And there are resources like Equaldex, which tracks LGBTQ+ rights and laws by country and region. It also lists out upcoming law changes that might influence your decision to visit a country. International travel is often booked far out in advance, so that tool can be helpful for planning.
There’s also Misterb&b, a community of LGBTQ+ hosts with a curated selection of welcoming hotels and half a million trusted gay traveler reviews. They consider themselves a place where “travelers can find a place where they are accepted and celebrated.” The agency started after the founders, a gay couple, experienced discrimination from their home host while traveling.
If you’re considering travel in 2025 and you’re a member of the alphabet mafia, stay safe out there. Stay safe “out” in general, too; we need each other to survive.
Howdy! My name is Katy Atchison and I'm an Associate Editor for Broke-Ass Stuart.
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