Opinion: Safety Is Not a Value, It’s a Responsibility.
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This is the fifth and final article in a series written by the LGBTQIA+ Caucus of Amherst for Pride month 2026. View the previous columns in the series here, here, here, and here.
As Pride Month comes to a close, Amherst has once again celebrated LGBTQIA+ community members with rainbow flags, public events, affirming messages, and declarations of support. Those celebrations matter. Visibility matters. Joy matters.
But Pride also asks something of us.
Over the past several years, Amherst has spent a great deal of time talking about the safety of queer and trans young people. We have debated policies, attended meetings, read investigations, and watched students, families, educators, advocates, and community members work tirelessly to draw attention to concerns that many would have preferred not to confront.
Through all of it, one question persists: What does it actually mean to keep queer and trans young people safe?
Too often, we treat safety as a value. We say safety matters. We say belonging matters. We say inclusion matters. We place those words in mission statements, strategic plans, public comments, and Pride Month proclamations.
But values, by themselves, do not protect anyone.
Responsibilities do.
A value is something we believe. A responsibility is something we act on.
Responsibilities are measured not by what we say we believe, but by what we do when those beliefs become inconvenient.
The difference matters.
Most Amherst residents would likely agree that queer and trans students deserve safety, dignity, and belonging. The community has repeatedly expressed support for those principles. Yet support becomes meaningful only when people are willing to accept responsibility for making those principles real.
Safety requires adults who intervene when harm occurs. It requires adults who believe young people when they report harm. It requires institutions that respond promptly, transparently, and consistently when concerns are raised. It requires accountability when trust is broken. It requires community members who remain engaged long after the headlines fade and the meetings end.
And it requires parents who understand that protecting LGBTQIA+ children is not only the responsibility of LGBTQIA+ families. It belongs to all of us.
Responsibility looks like interrupting a slur instead of pretending you didn’t hear it. It looks like asking hard questions when policies aren’t being followed. It looks like showing up to a School Committee meeting, not because your own child has been harmed, but because every child deserves to be safe.
Responsibility is demanding because it asks something of us.
It asks us to leave the comfort of agreement and move into the discomfort of participation.
It asks parents to attend meetings they would rather skip. It asks educators to challenge colleagues when necessary. It asks neighbors to speak up when silence would be easier. It asks elected officials to make difficult decisions. It asks all of us to remain engaged long after the immediate crisis has passed.
It asks us not to assume that someone else is paying attention.
The history of every successful movement for justice teaches the same lesson: meaningful change happens when ordinary people decide that responsibility belongs to them too.
Three years ago, students and families in Amherst raised concerns about the treatment of queer and trans young people. They did not remain silent. Student journalists did not remain silent. Community members did not remain silent. Many people accepted responsibility for paying attention, asking difficult questions, and demanding better.
The progress that followed did not happen because institutions acted alone. It happened because people stayed engaged. That lesson remains relevant today.
Today we face escalating challenges and ongoing threats to the safety of LGBTQIA+ people. It is going to take broad engagementment, from more people sustained over time in order to align the actual experiences of queer and trans people in our community with what our values say we want them to be.
Pride is often understood as a celebration. It is. But Pride is also a commitment.
A commitment that queer and trans young people will not be left to navigate harm alone.
A commitment that when concerns are raised, adults will listen.
A commitment that belonging will be measured not by banners, statements, or symbolic gestures, but by the choices communities make when those values are tested.
To the queer and trans young people in our community: we see you. We hear you. And we commit to continuing this work—not only during Pride Month, but throughout the year.
The Massachusetts Commission on LGBTQ Youth recently reminded young people:
“We know many of you are navigating systems, schools, communities, and conversations that ask you to shrink yourselves simply to survive. But survival alone has never been the goal. You deserve joy. You deserve belonging. You deserve freedom, safety, visibility, and the ability to exist without fear.”
We couldn’t agree more.
The question facing Amherst is no longer whether we support queer and trans young people in principle. The question is whether we are willing to accept responsibility for protecting them in practice.
Pride Month is ending. That responsibility is not.
The work of creating safe, welcoming communities for queer and trans young people belongs to all of us. So as this Pride Month comes to a close, we leave our community with one question:
What responsibility are you willing to take?
Here Are a Few Places to Begin
Learn your rights and the district’s responsibilities. Become familiar with the policies that protect LGBTQIA+ students in Amherst and Massachusetts, and the rights students have under state law.
- ARPS Bullying Prevention and Intervention Plan, 2025
- Massachusetts Safe Schools Program for LGBTQ Students
Understand the hHstory.
Stay Informed and Get Involved.
Attend School Committee meetings, community forums, and events. Stay engaged after the headlines fade. Accountability depends on sustained public participation. Support educators and community members who are working to make schools safer. Ask questions. Follow up. Expect accountability.
This article is a collective effort of members of the LGBTQIA+ Caucus of Amherst.
The LGBTQIA+ Caucus of Amherst is a grassroots group formed in the fall of 2023 in response to a clear need to push for transparency, accountability, and equity from the local administration, and to mobilize greater advocacy and support for queer and trans students. The caucus works with the community, including Amherst Regional Public Schools staff and administration to identify and meet the needs of LGBTQIA+ students. To protect its members from potential retaliation and intimidation within the community, the caucus operates with an anonymous membership structure relying on a designated spokesperson for public communication. Caucus spokesperson Ali Wicks-Lim (they/them) can be contacted at CaucusLGBTQIA@gmail.com.