by Ana Miller & Drey Wingren with the Trans Empowerment Alliance (T.E.A.)
Well, it’s Pride Month again, that time of year when the LGBTQIA+ community celebrates our long fight for equal rights. This year is filled with even more violent rhetoric. The current administration in Washington D.C. is pushing a vehemently anti-trans/anti-queer agenda, and many states are following suit, making it hard to want to celebrate. It’s especially challenging to celebrate when you’re queer and houseless. This year in particular, with such a large number of queer refugees coming to Denver and having nowhere to go, it can be difficult to find joy. Denver touts itself as a “sanctuary city” for queer folks, but what isn’t commonly understood is how incredibly expensive it is to live here. Many who get off the bus or plane do so with next to no resources and end up on our streets with nowhere safe to go.
In 2025 alone, 126 different anti-trans bills were signed into law in multiple states, with Missouri and Oklahoma leading the way. As of this writing, 126 national anti-trans bills have been introduced in Congress. In multiple states, 58 bills have passed, with 8 being vetoed, and 6 awaiting either signature or veto. That means a staggering 44 bills have already been signed into law! Idaho, a state very close to Colorado, passed one of the most restrictive bathroom bills in the U.S., with a second offense risking upwards of 5 years in prison. Kansas has gone so far as to discredit all previously legal identifying documents for trans people that do not match their assigned gender at birth, and let’s not forget the federal target on our backs that deem anyone even ideologically “pro-transgender” classified as terrorists. These laws are creating refugee crises even in states that are accepting of trans people, leaving many to flee here with nothing more than a backpack.
Denver claims it’s a “sanctuary city” for queer people, but Denver has an average cost of living almost 10% higher, as well as a housing market almost 20% more expensive, than the national average and, despite its advertising, unfortunately does nothing to guarantee protection from the increased criminalization of poverty and housing insecurity disproportionately experienced by members of queer communities. Combining political vulnerability with established discrimination against openly queer people (at much higher rates if you are also BIPOC) by landlords and places of employment leaves many finding themselves significantly more likely than straight and cisgender counterparts to lose their housing. Denver currently has very few houselessness resources inclusive of queer people and especially safe overnight sheltering. Our emergency shelters are supposed to allow entry to trans people according to the gender they identify with, though many end up being turned away for not passing, and programs extend no social, medical or legal protections. Many queer people express fear and anger in our congregate shelters when they are harassed or assaulted, but alarmingly, staff have treated it as no big deal. Trans folks can often be segregated from the rest of the population, and many do report being verbally, sexually and/or physically assaulted in the shelters.
“I was turned away from Samaritan House, because I had facial hair, and no way to access a razor, even though my Clarity card said that I identify as trans femme, and go by she/them” – Marie, a disabled houseless transgender woman.
The Trump administration has also stripped away all regulations that explicitly stated any shelter receiving federal funding be required to allow entry to queer people. Even The Delores Project – which is regularly referenced by housing workers and other professionals as the only safe overnight emergency shelter for trans folks in Denver – has mixed to negative reviews by queer (especially trans) individuals who have actually stayed there as residents. The streets are just as bad. Sadly discrimination against queer houseless people is a regular issue from the non-queer houseless community. Add in the increased and inhumane enforcement of anti-survival laws by the City of Denver, and the streets inarguably become an extremely unsafe place… Not the sanctuary advertised.
“I won’t ever go back to Dolores.” – Houseless trans femme crisis line caller
Denver needs to live up to its claim as a sanctuary city by creating funded programs and providing safe overnight noncongregate shelter for our houseless queer community before we reach crisis levels like Seattle (https://www.advocate.com/news/seattle-trans-refugee-crisis). Our housed queer community needs to step up as well. Queer people are at a much higher risk of becoming houseless than non-queer people. Our community needs to come together to work to uplift the voices of houseless queer people, and work to end discrimination in our established shelters.
Remember – PRIDE was a riot started by houseless BIPOC trans people that then started a revolution. Let us honor PRIDE by reaching out and supporting our houseless queer community!
“We have to do it because we can no longer stay invisible. We have to be visible. We should not be ashamed of who we are. We have to show the world that we are numerous. There are many of us out there.” — Sylvia Rivera
- LGBTQIA+ refers to people who identify as sexual minorities (i.e., bisexual, questioning, asexual), gender minorities (i.e., transgender, gender nonbinary), and intersex (I).
- Queer has been internally reclaimed as an expansive word choice for overlapping LGBTQIA+ communities and identities such as two-spirit and gender nonconfirming individuals.
- “Data from the 2022 U.S. Trans Survey reveals that nearly one in three respondents has experienced homelessness in their lifetime – eight times the rate of the general population. 58 percent have been denied access to shelter due to their gender and 27 percent left shelter due to poor treatment.”
- Nationwide Survey Shows Widespread Discrimination Against Gender-Expansive People, Including in Emergency Shelters – National Alliance to End Homelessness
- Check out the charts for statistics that they have
- Nationwide Survey Shows Widespread Discrimination Against Gender-Expansive People, Including in Emergency Shelters – National Alliance to End Homelessness
- Internationally, queer folks make up 20-40% of houseless populations even though they only reflect 5-10% of the general population
- Fraser, et. al., 2019 | https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16152677
- ACLU is currently tracking 530 Anti LGBTQIA+ bills in the United States
- last updated May 29, 2026
- https://www.aclu.org/legislative-attacks-on-lgbtq-rights-2026
- In 2026 2 anti-trans bills were added to the ballot in Colorado
- Queer youth are “120% more likely to experience homelessness” and “roughly 7.4 times more likely to experience acts of sexual violence” in the United States.
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