Moving Ahead with Intention

We have waited a moment before commenting on the flurry of orders coming out of the new administration. This is partly to give our staff, who are all part of our community, a moment to breathe. And partly to ensure that we do not just add to the overwhelm of the moment.

All of us are currently being inundated with drastic actions being taken at the federal level. There are real reasons for concern-and we knew this was coming. However, part of the intent is to sow chaos and fear. We have to push back against that and regain some sense of control, in order to move forward effectively, as a community.

It is important to remember that executive orders do not undo existing law, Supreme Court decisions, or the United States Constitution. Our friends at Basic Rights Oregon, Human Rights Campaign, and the ACLU-among others-have put out some excellent resources for understanding what is happening-and the response to those things. We will link to some of those resources below.

That said, no matter how much we know that so much of the chaos that is currently swirling around us isn't legal, that it's going to be challenged in court etc., it is still also seriously traumatizing. We know that. In this time, it is more important than ever to take care of ourselves, take care of each other, and to also make sure that we stay informed. That we know what resources we have and that we are paying attention to the accuracy of the information that we are taking in.

Those who wish our community harm count on us to be off balance and to be overwhelmed. To be scared into chaos and ineffectiveness. But we are stronger than that. Otherwise, we would not be here-and they would not be so afraid of us.

We are not going anywhere and we will take care of each other-and of our community.

ACLU

BASIC RIGHTS OREGON

HUMAN RIGHTS CAMPAIGN

If you are looking for additional resources, please check out our Community Resources Page, which includes additional Crisis, BIPOC specific, and general LGBTQ+ resources. 

Pride Northwest recognizes the intersection of identities that these executive orders affect, we are actively engaging with various organizations to stay informed.

We also recognize that these executive orders are ongoing and actively changing, we will do our best to keep our community up to date with any notable developments. Any updates will be posted below on this blog page.

Community Updates (Last Updated 2/4)

There are growing concerns around the increase of Immigration Raids in Oregon, below are some resources-

Julie Baltazar