Article | September 1, 2025
Queer Environmentalism: LGBTQ+ Leaders and the Climate Justice Movement
By Nicholas O'Connor
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PHOTO: SS Kei Em
When we think of LGBTQ+ activism, our minds often go to marches, art, and landmark fights for civil rights. When we think of environmentalism, we picture climate strikes, endangered species, or policy debates about renewable energy. What we don’t often see is how these movements intersect — and how queer communities have long been on the frontlines of environmental justice.
This story matters because climate change doesn’t affect all communities equally. Marginalized groups, including LGBTQ+ people, often bear disproportionate burdens — from housing instability during natural disasters to exclusion from policy-making tables. Yet queer activists have consistently transformed survival into innovation, making environmental justice another arena where queer resilience shines.
PHOTO: SS I3
Roots of Queer Environmentalism
Queer ties to land and environment aren’t new. In the 1970s and 80s, lesbian land trusts emerged across the United States, offering rural safe havens for women who sought both ecological sustainability and freedom from patriarchal society. These spaces weren’t just about survival — they were laboratories for alternative living: solar panels before they were trendy, communal farming before it was Instagrammable.
Globally, Indigenous Two-Spirit and queer-identifying leaders have long emphasized environmental stewardship as inseparable from cultural survival. In many Indigenous traditions, queerness and guardianship of the land were entwined, showing that queer identities and environmental care aren’t separate — they are connected threads of the same tapestry.
PHOTO: AK1
Modern Queer Climate Champions
Today, LGBTQ+ leaders are deeply embedded in climate movements, though their stories often go untold.
Jamie Margolin, a queer Latina climate activist, co-founded Zero Hour, a youth-led movement pushing for climate action. Her organizing emphasizes that climate justice must be intersectional — centering queer youth, Indigenous voices, and communities of color.
Patrisse Cullors, co-founder of Black Lives Matter and a queer activist, has drawn attention to how climate disasters exacerbate systemic racism and housing inequality, disproportionately harming queer people of color.
Queer chapters of the Sunrise Movement and Fridays for Future are blending Pride marches with climate strikes, reminding us that liberation means fighting for both people and the planet.
Even at Pride events, environmental activism has a seat at the table: grassroots campaigns for Zero Waste Pride are tackling the plastic waste and corporate greenwashing that often come with celebration.
PHOTO: AK2
Why Queer Voices Matter in Climate Justice
Queer communities know what it means to build chosen family and mutual aid networks in the face of systemic neglect. That same creativity and resilience are exactly what the climate movement needs.
When hurricanes displace LGBTQ+ youth, queer community centers often become shelters. When governments fail to respond to ecological collapse, queer organizers are often among the first to imagine new models of solidarity. Queer voices bring perspectives shaped by survival — perspectives that are crucial for creating a more sustainable, just world.
The Connection
Queer liberation and climate justice are not parallel struggles — they are deeply interconnected. As queer communities continue to fight for dignity and survival, they also remind the world of what it takes to care for each other and for the planet we share.
In the words of youth activist Jamie Margolin: “You can’t have climate justice without social justice.” The future of our planet depends on movements that are as diverse, resilient, and visionary as the queer community itself.
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