The Supreme Court issued a landmark victory for tribal sovereignty by rejecting all the constitutional challenges to the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) in Brackeen v. Haaland, requiring state courts to make active efforts to protect Native children and keep Native families together. Congress passed ICWA in 1978 to address the nationwide crisis of state child welfare agencies tearing Native children from their families and placing them in non-Native homes, in an attempt to force Native children to assimilate and adopt white cultural norms.

Since 1978, 14 states have passed their own state ICWA laws to strengthen the implementation of all aspects of the Indian Child Welfare Act. Now that the Supreme Court has reaffirmed ICWA, it is time for states to take action and pass their own state laws building on the protections in the federal law. The map below shows where states have already enacted such state laws.

Fighting to Keep Native Families Together
Less than half of Native Americans live in a state with an ICWA law on the books. Email your state representatives and urge them to pass or update their state ICWAs to protect Native children and recognize placement preferences created by tribal governments.

Along with essential procedural protections, the federal ICWA created a placement preference to promote the stability and security of Native American tribes and families. For any adoption of a Native child under state law, preference must be given to placements with: (1) a member of the child’s extended family; (2) other members of the Native child’s tribe; or (3) families from other Native American tribes. The majority of state ICWA laws incorporate identical or near-identical placement preference language as the federal ICWA, with a few exceptions. For example, some states prioritize placements with families of other Native American tribes that are of similar cultures to the Native child, while other states create a fourth preference for non-Native families that are committed to maintaining the child’s connection to their tribe and culture.

Tara Lopez Carn was not going to let the police stop her from living her truth. The Puerto Rican trans woman moved from New York to Florida in the early 1970s, where she quickly gained the attention of the Miami Beach law enforcement. Officers would follow her around the city, harassing her wherever she went. They would even out her to lovers by calling her slurs. One day, Tara had enough. She began dancing naked to music on a crowded beach as a large audience gathered around her and “cause[d] a near riot” according to one of her friends. The police hauled her to jail, where she would repeat the performance upon her release.

Tara’s act of disobedience came at a worsening time for trans Floridians. Cities throughout the state passed ordinances to ban on what they considered “crossdressing,” which included drag, trans expression, and costumes. Police could – and still can – arrest trans people at will. Tara removing her top provided only a peek into the absurdity of these laws in a country that supposedly fosters free expression.

Angela Douglas moved to Florida around the same time as Tara. The young trans woman founded what is arguably the first transgender activist group, Transsexual Action Organization (TAO), in 1970. After moving to the state, she declared, “1972 was the Year of the Transsexual in Miami Beach; hundreds were there, from all over the nation, and many Puerto Ricans and Cubans.” Trans women of color like Tara joined TAO, which Douglas claimed reached 1,000 members internationally by the end of 1973. Tara became the organization’s Presidential Assistant around the same time. She would edit their newsletters Mirage and Moonshadow, helping circulate the magazines to thousands of readers across the globe. Tara quickly became a face of the organization, leading workshops and lectures at universities, events, and conferences.

The group named Tara their member of the month in July 1973 “because of her friendliness and help to other transexuals.” Tara’s amicable nature supported TAO's expansion throughout Florida, not just Miami. They brought trans people throughout the state, urban and rural, to their protests of the unjust laws similar to what we are seeing today. TAO was then the largest transgender organization in the world by membership. Centered in Florida, they fought for their freedoms in the belly of the beast.

Today, we see many groups emerge through similar modes of resistance. Students at the New College are organizing against its far-right overhaul. Migrants shut down thousands of businesses to protest Florida’s anti-immigrant law. National and international groups are sending mifepristone to those in need in the state. We cannot know what will come from these actions in the long term. But we do know groups, organizations, and movements often emerge through these means of subversion. With growing political participation from the margins, we may see a renewed interest in activism in the state for years to come. If there's one thing we can be sure about, pride has always been a protest.

Eli Erlick is an internationally-awarded activist, writer, and public speaker. In 2011, she co-founded Trans Student Educational Resources (TSER), a national organization dedicated to transforming the educational environment for trans students through collective action. She is currently completing her Ph.D. at the University of California, Santa Cruz.