In the fight for LGBTQ+ rights in 2025, queer moms are leading the charge against the unprecedented animus coming straight from the White House, as well as from state capitals across the country.
On issues ranging from trans rights and gender-affirming care to adoption and bathroom bills, these mothers are sounding the alarm on the damage the president and his MAGA loyalists are doing — and they are backing up their claims with action.
Related
“Plenty of hugs for you and me”: 10 delightful books to read to kids with two moms
It can be hard to parse through the thousands of children’s books to find the ones that work for your family. So we did it for you.
Here are five queer moms at the forefront of the fight for LGBTQ+ equality.
Never Miss a Beat
Subscribe to our newsletter to stay ahead of the latest LGBTQ+ political news and insights.
Subscribe to our Newsletter today
State Rep. Lauren Ashley Simmons (D-TX)
State Rep. Lauren Ashley Simmons of Texas describes herself as queer and just a “very regular” woman who wants better for her kids and her constituents. She has two children, including a daughter with sickle cell anemia.
Last year, Simmons, 40, a labor organizer in Houston fighting for teachers, domestic workers, and public employees, challenged incumbent Democrat Shawn Thierry, who famously cast a vote to ban gender affirming care in Texas and described it as “Black genocide.”
Simmons beat the five-term representative by a two-to-one margin in the primary.
“Our current representative has lost her way and now votes with Greg Abbott and Republicans to take away our rights, destroy our public schools, and hurt our kids,” Simmons said ahead of the vote. She was elected outright in November.
Said Simmons of her run: “I felt a need for our district to have better representation, and wasn’t happy as a constituent. I wanted to make sure people had an understanding that this is a democracy and people have the right to have their voices heard. You should represent your district by its values.”
Kelley Robinson, President, Human Rights Campaign
Kelly Robinson is the first Black and queer woman to serve as President of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the largest civil rights organization in the United States. She has two children with her wife, Becky George.
Robinson, 40, has spearheaded several successful campaigns for LGBTQ+, racial, and gender equity, and during her tenure as executive director of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, she tripled the number of donors to the organization to 18 million.
Under Robinson’s leadership in 2023, HRC declared a national State of Emergency due to the alarming increase in anti-LGBTQ+ legislation introduced and signed into law in red states across the country.
Speaking with LGBTQ Nation in 2023, Robinson said of the anti-trans hysteria that would later drive the president to issue executive orders banning “gender ideology” and “child mutilation,” Robinson said, “The same things that they’re saying about trans people today, they were saying about people living with HIV 30 years ago, right? The same thing they’re saying about trans folks today, they said about Black folks, about women, about Jewish folks, about Muslim folks. I mean, the list goes on and on and on.”
“And when you take it from that perspective,” Robinson continued, “I think that we can see that an attack on one of us is an attack on all of us.”
U.S. Rep. Becca Balint (D-VT)
Outspoken Vermont Rep. Becca Balint is the first woman and first openly LGBTQ+ person to represent her state in Congress. She has two children with her wife, Elizabeth Wohl.
Balint, 56, hasn’t been shy about calling out her MAGA colleagues’ “dangerous and cruel” provocations in Congress. She took on House members Nancy Mace (R-SC), Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), and Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) for their treatment of trans colleague Rep. Sarah McBride (D-DE), calling their behavior “juvenile”.
Balint called Trump’s latest run “the meanest, most dehumanizing, demonizing campaign a Republican ticket has ever run” and said it was filled with “hate and fear-mongering.”
She also advised Republicans “to stop being such mean motherf**kers.”
But Balint has also been working behind the scenes, listening to help Republicans “find their courage” in the face of
In March, Balint introduced the Transgender Health Care Access Act, a bill to award three-year grants to medical schools, hospitals, clinics, or centers that research and teach about gender-affirming care.
“I want queer and trans Americans to know, you have fighters and allies in Congress,” she said.
U.S. Rep Angie Craig (D-MN)
This month, U.S. Rep. Angie Craig of Minnesota announced her run for Senate in 2026. She has four sons with her wife Cheryl Greene and featured her family prominently in her campaign announcement.
“My wife Cheryl and I fought like hell to be parents of our four wonderful boys as some people, even a state government, tried to stop us,” she said.
Craig, 53, fought a three-year legal battle to adopt her son, Josh, in the state of Tennessee.
“When you wake up for three years of your life, not knowing that the child you’re raising is going to stay with you for one more day… it changes you as a person,” she said.
With her election to Congress in 2020, she became the first out lesbian mother in the house, as well as the eighth overall out candidate to win a seat. She serves as a co-chair of the Congressional Equality Caucus in the 119th Congress.
“There’s chaos and corruption coming out of Washington,” Craig said in her video campaign announcement, “crashing down on all of us, every day. An out-of-control, unelected billionaire, trying to take over our government and burn it to the ground. A president trampling our rights and freedoms as he profits for personal gain. And a cowardly Republican party rolling over and letting it all happen. It’s time to fight back.”
Journalist Erin Reed & State Rep. Zooey Zephyr (D-MT)
Journalist Erin Reed and State Rep. Zooey Zephyr of Montana met through their advocacy work and soon became a trans power couple. They married in December 2024 and share parenting duties for Reed’s young son, Andy.
Reed, 37, made her name as a journalist covering trans issues, and her newsletter Erin in the Morning has become an indispensable source of information for the media, LGBTQ+ advocates, and elected officials.
Zephyr, 37, made history in Montana as the first trans elected official in the state. She’s been a tireless warrior in the fight for trans rights and earned national coverage when she condemned Republicans for passing a bill to ban gender-affirming care for transgender youth. The freshman rep said they had “blood on their hands.”
The accusation got her banned from the House floor and relegated to a hallway outside the chamber to cast her votes.
As the couple continues their advocacy work in Montana and Washington, Andy is a source of inspiration at home and in the arena for their fight for LGBTQ+ rights.
“Andy said that his favorite part of the wedding was when we kissed each other,” Reed told LGBTQ Nation, “because ‘that was the moment that she became my stepmom for real.”
Subscribe to the LGBTQ Nation newsletter and be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.