At the National LGBTQ Task Force, we recognize that everyone has a fundamental right to sexual health and bodily autonomy, which includes the right to decide whether or when to become a parent, to parent the children we have, and to do so with dignity and free from violence and discrimination.
We support the reproductive health, rights, and justice (“repro”) movements because LGBTQ people need access to reproductive healthcare and services such as abortion, HIV care, and family planning. Yet we continue to face pervasive and government-sanctioned discrimination designed to block recognition of our relationships and hinder our ability to form and protect our families.
The reproductive health, rights, and justice (repro) and LGBTQ movements are inseparable: we are all working for the right to choose who and how we love and how we use our bodies—without government, employer or harmful religious intrusion.
Those who oppose comprehensive and affordable reproductive healthcare are often the same forces that want to control what we as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, gender non-conforming, two-spirit, intersex, and queer people do with our bodies.
That is why we are working to ensure our advocacy incorporates reproductive health, rights, and justice issues—because repro* is an LGBTQ issue.
We developed this toolkit because we saw a lack of integration between repro* and LGBTQ advocacy, despite the significant impact repro* policy has on LGBTQ people and vice versa. We hope that this first-of-its-kind toolkit will help advocates understand the intersection and allow them to better reflect and serve the repro* needs of LGBTQ people.
How to use this toolkit
This advocacy tool is intended for reproductive rights, health, and justice advocates who want to gain a solid understanding of repro* issues within an LGBTQ context. It is also intended to help LGBTQ advocates frame their current work within a reproductive justice framework in order to build crucial alliances and advocate for the repro* needs of LGBTQ people.
The toolkit covers some of the fundamentals of repro* and LGBTQ issues, major challenges advocates face, and key pieces of legislation designed to address these challenges. The toolkit also offers tips on how to make your advocacy (from the workplace and beyond) more inclusive of both repro* and LGBTQ needs. The sections are designed as stand-alone pieces to make it easy to use parts that are relevant to your work.
Download Queering Reproductive Justice: A Toolkit (pdf)
