LGBTQ+ Task Force's Evan Low: What's at stake this midterms

"Being in a room together helps confirm that what we're seeing isn't normal. And that matters, because it shapes how we respond. The scale of the backlash helps explain the urgency. In 2025 alone, lawmakers introduced more than 600 anti-LGBTQ+ bills nationwide, according to tracking by the American Civil Liberties Union, the majority aimed at transgender people and often framed around children, schools, and health care."

"The effort spans statehouses, courts, school boards, and federal agencies, and advocates describe it as a coordinated attempt not simply to roll back rights but to narrow who is permitted to exist openly in public life. For much of the past decade, LGBTQ+ political organizing has been largely defensive, stopping the worst bills, preserving fragile gains, limiting harm."

"We didn't ask to be in the crosshairs. But now that we are, the response has to be power. Heading into the 2026 midterm elections, Low argues, that posture is no longer sufficient."

The LGBTQ+ community faces an unprecedented wave of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, with over 600 bills introduced in 2025 alone and 366 additional bills in the first 29 days of 2026, primarily targeting transgender people and focusing on children, schools, and healthcare. Evan Low, president and CEO of the LGBTQ+ Victory Fund, emphasizes that this coordinated effort across statehouses, courts, school boards, and federal agencies represents a new level of attack. For the past decade, LGBTQ+ political organizing has been largely defensive, focused on stopping harmful bills and preserving existing rights. However, Low argues this defensive posture is no longer sufficient heading into the 2026 midterm elections, calling instead for a response centered on building political power.

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