05/17/2026
Happy International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia.
This day exists because the fight to simply exist has never been easy.
On May 17, 1990, the World Health Organization removed homosexuality from its list of mental disorders, a moment that felt like progress. And it was. But recognition is not liberation. Activists launched IDAHOBIT in 2004 as a reminder that as long as our people are still being targeted, still being erased, still being legislated out of existence, the work is not done.
Nearly 35 years later, the work is still not done.
This week, right here in Washington state, we lost one of our own. Juniper Blessing, a 19-year-old trans woman, a UW student, a singer, a dreamer, was taken from us far too soon. We say her name. We carry her light. And we refuse to let her become just another statistic in a year that has already taken too many.
But Juniper is not alone in this fight, and neither are you.
Every day, LGBTQ+ people are fighting to exist. Trans people are fighting for healthcare, for dignity, for safety in their own homes and campuses. Bi people are fighting to be seen and believed. Gay and q***r people are fighting against laws designed to erase them. Every single one of us knows what it costs to live out loud in a world that keeps telling us to shrink.
We don't shrink. We burn brighter. 🔥
Sparked by Pride was built on the belief that every person in this community carries a spark of courage, in the quiet moments of self-discovery, in the bold acts of showing up, in choosing joy as an act of resistance. That spark is not a luxury. It is survival. It is power. It is ours.
Today we honor everyone who came before us and fought so we could be here. We honor everyone fighting right now. We honor the ones we've lost.
And we make a promise: we will not be silent. We will not be invisible. We will not stop.
Your existence is not a debate. Your identity is not a phase. Your spark matters. 🔥