Grassroots Activism Impacting Rural LGBTQIA+ Communities: Implications for Social Work

In 2022, the American Civil Liberties Union tracked over 200 anti-LGBTQIA+ bills in the legislative session. Policy protections for LGBTQIA+ people can only advance when large numbers of people push for change, which requires greater public awareness of the implicit and explicit barriers for LGBTQIA+ persons. One promising practice for increasing visibility and public awareness is through grassroots activism. Grassroots work spans micro, mezzo, and macro social work practice as it builds local power to influence improvements in services and the well-being for a particular group or issue. LGBTQIA+ grassroots activism provides visibility and community and builds relationships with local resources and leaders to address specific needs. This paper looks at the impact of rural grassroots work on policy change, specifically emphasizing the influence of LGBTQIA+ people leading local efforts to establish greater equity in their communities. The authors provide three examples of LGBTQIA+ organizations doing grassroots work in rural areas in order to increase attention to this foundational level of policy change. These organizations and many more across the country must be acknowledged and supported by social workers to increase the important momentum of self-represented movements for justice.