Smack dab in the middle of June 2026, we get word that the federal government of the United States of America has proposed a new federal rule that will impact nearly all federal funding recipients. The emblem of this proposal is that recipients of federal funding will be required to deny the rights, safety, dignity, and even the very existence of transgender, nonbinary and gender queer individuals in order to receive financial support. The comment period for the proposed Regulation for Federal Financial Assistance rule ends on July 13th, 2026. Clean Water Action staff are leading an internal effort to gather comments on this important issue.
It’s June 2026, a Progress Pride Flag flaps in the summer breeze (white, pink, blue, brown, black, then chromatic), and power is held tight in the fists of people who like to break things.
Smuggled in here, underneath the thin veil of the reactionary moral panic surrounding queer, transgender, and nonbinary people, are sweeping degradations to all spheres of research and public good in America. In this corrosive federal proposal, you will find language that cements the fascist mindset into American governance, antithetical to equity and justice.
This impacts hospitals, shelters, universities, food pantries, nonprofits, public schools, and much more.
This impacts what research gets funded, which public programs reach the people who need them, what voices are heard, how resources are shared, who receives lifesaving medical care – and who doesn’t.
It’s June 2026, light breaks through the clouds in shimmering pillars after a summer rainstorm, and stubborn green things bloom flowers through the cracks in the concrete.
Climate action is inextricably intertwined with racial and environmental justice. Environmental justice doesn’t have a leg to stand on if it’s not built from a strong foundation of intersectional analysis and decolonial theory. Federal rule making like this enshrines the disproportionate impacts of climate catastrophe on our most vulnerable.
A threat like this demands a response – not cynical compliance in advance.
It’s June 2026, and my best friends in all the world bring cold agua de jamaica, hand pies, and sliced mango to dinner. (Ordinary time ancillary and overlapping Historic times.) We get sandwiches and rice paper rolls. We have a picnic.
We’re not going anywhere. We’ve always been here.
Clean Water Action Staff are committed to standing together on this. We invite you to join us.
