This listening session capitalizes on the common interests of two AHA committees by directing our joint energies and concerns to a pressing issue: how the current political climate in the US and beyond raises the already high stakes on being an LGBT(Q+) scholar and on doing LGBT(Q+) research. We encourage the panel and the audience to express experiences and concerns freely, as well as to engage in strategic thinking, so that the committees can identify areas where the AHA can use its role as an advocate effectively. Core discussants will get the conversation started by sharing, informally, some of their own experiences and any institutional strategies they have found helpful, foregrounding, to the extent possible, the voices of LGBT(Q+) scholars working in states that restrict teaching topics and materials. We will then open the discussion to all participants. We will also solicit comments and questions via the AHA’s conference platform and on social media prior to the session. Panelists will introduce material collected beforehand to shape or refocus the conversation as needed.