Whereas LGBTQIA+ community spaces provide critical environments, both historically and in the present, where individuals of diverse sexual orientations and gender identities can express themselves authentically, free from discrimination, violence, or judgment, while fostering a sense of belonging, mental and emotional well-being, and community support, and have served as incubators for cultural expression, social activism, and education on issues of equality and justice;

Whereas the term LGBTQIA+ is understood to mean lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning/queer, intersex, asexual, and other identities;

Whereas community partnership organizations have been instrumental in establishing, maintaining, and expanding these spaces through their dedication, advocacy, and resource mobilization;

Whereas LGBTQIA+ community spaces include and uplift members who are also from racially and ethnically diverse backgrounds emphasizing the need for solidarity and mutual understanding;

Whereas, in June 1969, the Stonewall Inn—a bar known for serving LGBTQIA+ community members at a time when being LGBTQIA+ was illegal—was raided by the City of New York Police Department, leading to a six-day protest led by a diverse coalition including transgender women of color such as Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, demonstrating intersectional solidarity in maintaining community support spaces;

Whereas the Gay and Lesbian Anti-Defamation League, later known as GLAAD, held its first meeting in 1985 at the New York Community Center, convening over 400 LGBTQIA+ people and providing an unprecedented opportunity for members within the LBGTQIA+ community to openly and unabashedly discuss ongoing political and social issues facing the LGBTQIA+ community;

Whereas, in 1987, the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power, also known as ACT UP, was founded through the unity of smaller LGBTQIA+ organizations and individuals to fight discrimination against those with Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, also known as AIDS, in politics and the health care industry, often facing military and police aggression for holding strategizing meetings in semipublic places, and whose valiant efforts helped combat the social and political stigma around AIDS;

Whereas ballroom, an underground LGBTQIA+ artform that emerged out of burlesque shows in the late 1800s and gained mainstream prominence in cities such as New York and Chicago by the 1990s, provided a platform for teams to compete and enhanced recognition of the LGBTQIA+ community;

Whereas bars and nightclubs that have historically held space for the LGBTQIA+ community have declined by 37 percent in the last decade, making up only 1.5 percent of the total share of bars and clubs in the United States, with only 32 lesbian bars and nightclubs in existence across the Nation;

Whereas, according to a 2020 analysis of the National Crime Victimization Survey by the Williams Institute at UCLA Law School, sexual and gender minorities disproportionately face victimization, experiencing violent victimization at a rate of 71.1 per 1000 people compared with 19.2 per 1000 people for those who are not sexual or gender minorities;

Whereas the New York City Anti-Violence Project’s LGBTQIA+ 2022 Safe Spaces National Needs Assessment found that 62.1 percent of 380 LGBTQIA+ businesses, groups, and organizations surveyed experienced at least 1 incident of hate violence in 2022 and 9 in 10 organizations expressed a need for security measures they do not currently have;

Whereas ensuring access to resources and investments for LGBTQIA+ businesses, groups, and organizations to continue supporting vulnerable populations is a critical need; and

Whereas when protected spaces are infiltrated by violence and hatred, innocent people are the ones who pay the price, oftentimes with their lives, and the 2016 Pulse Nightclub shooting in Orlando took the lives of 49 individuals, and the 2022 Club Q shooting took the lives of 5 individuals, both of which gravely damaged the psyche and sense of security for the respective local communities and LGBTQIA+ organizations: Now, therefore, be it