There are more than four million miles of public road in the U.S., including over 100 thousand in Florida. Truckers may know them best.
Drivers and their support networks play an essential but often overlooked role in agriculture, construction, healthcare, retail and other everyday services. It’s what’s earned the trucking industry the moniker of America’s backbone.
“The American economy stretches across a continent with links to the world, drawing on natural resources and manufactured products from many locations to serve markets at home and abroad,” the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics notes. “More freight is moving greater distances as part of far-flung supply chains among distant trading partners.”
The U.S. transportation system moves a daily average of about 55.5 million tons of freight across the country, goods valued at over $51.2 billion. The department’s most recent data equates that to 20.2 billion tons or $18.7 trillion transported each year.
Every household and business in the nation depends on this, they advise, the direct result of drivers hitting our highways.
According to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, the federal agency tasked with regulating interstate trucking, there were nearly 580,000 active motor carriers as of June 2025. They range from large trucking companies to independent truckers, with more than 90% of these operators managing 10 or fewer trucks.
With 9% of Americans now identifying as LGBTQ+, Gallup found in 2026, members of the community have certainly found their way behind the wheel. It’s part of what led Central Florida’s Bobby Coffey-Loy to launch the LGBTQ+ Trucker Network, which incorporated as a Florida nonprofit in 2021.
The organization serves 20,000 LGBTQ+ and ally members in Central Florida, Tampa Bay and beyond, Coffey-Loy says. It creates a safe space within an industry that can be challenging for LGBTQ+ drivers, vetting potential employees, participating in truck shows, maintaining social media lifelines and participating in events like St Pete Pride.
The LGBTQ+ Truck Driver Network was on full display for Florida’s largest LGBTQ+ celebration June 26-28, participating in the parade and holding a fundraiser at The Garage on Central Ave. in St. Petersburg. The evening raised awareness for their nationwide efforts and more.
Coffey-Loy, an industry veteran who performed in drag for the fundraiser as Illusion Michaels, drives for the Pink Panthers Group by day alongside his husband, Ricky. The company prides itself “on our late-model trucks, trailers and friendly, award-winning drivers who can cover your transportation needs anywhere in the contiguous United States and portions of Canada.”
Among other initiatives, they supported his efforts to wrap his truck in the colors of the Progressive Pride flag this year. It’s the latest LGBTQ+ exterior repping the network across the nation’s highways.
It makes a difference.
“When I first came into trucking, my husband and I met so many amazing LGBTQ+ people across the industry,” he explains. “What surprised us most was how many of them simply wanted representation, connection and a sense of community.
“That is what led us to start LGBTQ+ Truck Driver Network. It felt like the right thing to do — to create a space where drivers could be themselves without fear of judgment and know they had a community standing beside them,” Coffey-Loy continues. “We wanted to build an organization that would be on the front lines, breaking barriers and paving a new road in an industry that has not always been welcoming to LGBTQ+ individuals. Representation matters. Visibility matters.”
That’s what he and the network have done. Its mission is to ensure LGBTQ+ truck drivers know they are valued and have a place within the trucking industry.
“Every mile we travel and every event we attend is another step toward building a stronger, more welcoming trucking community for everyone,” Coffey-Loy says.
He isn’t alone in that mission. Ollie Curtis, who came to the LGBTQ+ Truck Driver Network as the significant other of a driver and served as a moderator on its social media channels, now serves as vice president.
“Trucking has always been a part of my life,” they say. “My father was a truck driver and my former fiancée is a truck driver as well.”
Coffey-Loy says supporters like these are essential, not just for the network but for drivers working grueling, often lonely hours. They help tether them to their homes and the communities of which they are a part.
Curtis understands the need for it.
“One thing I wish the LGBTQ+ community knew more about the trucking industry is that there are many different types of drivers,” they note. “Local drivers typically operate within a city or state and return home every night. Regional drivers cover specific areas, such as the West Coast, Midwest or Northeast, and usually get home multiple times a week or at least once a week. Finally, there are Over-the-Road drivers, who travel across the country and may be away from home for a week or more at a time before returning.”
It’s both a profession and a lifestyle, one that never leaves you.
“Whether you are a truck driver, a spouse, a child of a trucker, or someone connected to the industry in another way, you are forever a part of the trucking community,” Curtis says. “This year has been one of the most challenging when it comes to gaining support, especially in the current political climate. We need to continue being visible, authentic and proud of who we are, much like the spirit of Pride itself.”
Ashleigh Lewis agrees. An over-the-road trucker, she serves as the LGBTQ+ Truck Driver Network’s transgender advisor and understands the group’s importance firsthand.
“The network took me in and taught me so many lessons about life, love and growing up,” Lewis says. “I became the trans woman I am today because of the acceptance and love the organization brought me. It gave me a sense of belonging that I lacked in life.”
“Trucking is overlooked by so many and it’s so important at the same time,” she says. “I wish more people realized that everyone out here is from all walks of life and are just trying to provide for themselves.”
That sentiment will be on full display in “The Trans Trucker Project,” a documentary directed by Hansen Bursic, an award-winning filmmaker, film festival programmer and journalist who is chronicling Lewis “as she traverses the American countryside en route back home to Florida,” including her stop at St Pete Pride.
“Truck drivers are often likened to the American cowboy, traversing the countryside, cargo in tow, with a stoic and hardened demeanor,” it’s officially described. “As the stereotype goes, these ‘red blooded American men’ embody the conservative ideal of a working class hero with traditional values.
“It is because of this reputation that many are often surprised at the large number of transgender Americans who embrace the career, who make up as much as 3% of the drivers in the U.S. according to experts,” Bursic’s website continues. He says the film “will allow audiences to explore the unforgiving but rewarding world of trucking, by hopping into the passenger seat with Ashleigh, a 24-year-old trans woman and third generation long haul trucker.”
Bursic reached out to the network to find her. The director says it will dispel “the harmful and intentionally divisive myth that trans rights, working-class labor and economic issues are at odds with each other.”
“Offering a new avenue to engage with dialogues concerning (trans)gender justice, labor and political polarization, this film depicts genuine connections of working-class solidarity across lines of difference,” he also notes. “Rarely do we see trans women working everyday jobs, a part of industries like logistics, manufacturing, and transportation which keep society running … this film is a refreshing departure in its unique vision of rural, working-class trans people who experience immense pride and joy in their unconventional work.”
Fundraising for the piece met 100% of its goal this year. Donations and spreading the word are still welcome, with filmmakers noting it “is a critical time to uplift trans stories, but it’s also harder than ever to get these projects made.”
Coffey-Loy expects the documentary to premiere in the Spring, something Lewis is looking forward to.
“With the upcoming documentary and representing LGBTQ+ Truck Driver Network I really want people to see me for who I am,” she explains. “Just a trans woman working hard in a male-dominated industry just to survive and be myself. Nothing special, nothing extra, just traveling the country following a dream I had as a kid growing up.
“When my teacher said looking out the window would never get me anywhere, boy she was wrong,” she also notes. “Because I have the best office window view anyone could wish for and it’s always changing. The sunsets, the skylines and the open road is the dream I strived for in life and now I’m living it.”
In addition to providing a platform for current drivers, the network also remembers those who have passed. Its memorial program honors those “across the country that have made their final delivery.”
The team showcases these individuals via social media and through less public means. They send a car charm and condolences to their loved ones.
“A lot of people don’t realize that there’s over 3,500 drivers a year that pass away on the road and that number keeps going up,” Coffey-Loy says. “Drivers leave home and they don’t come back; this is a dangerous job at times, whether it’s because of weather conditions or just being on the everyday open road.”
The network wants all of its members to understand their worth, recognizing their value on and off the nation’s highways. They also want others to take notice.
“Trucking is an industry that moves the country,” Coffey-Loy says. “We are so dependent on trucking more than people realize. If trucking shut down, within a week our shelves would be bare of all essentials.”
Curtis echoes him.
“Truck driving has been an essential part of this country and its success,” they advise. “While we have trains, ships and other forms of transportation, trucking helps keep the world moving. Without truck drivers, major cargo would not reach inland communities. We would not have reliable deliveries of produce, grain, livestock, building materials and countless other goods that support our infrastructure and daily lives.”
“It’s simple,” Lewis adds. “If you got it, at one point it was on a truck. Trucking is the backbone of America.”
Those looking to support the network’s efforts can do so financially or through other means. Coffey-Loy says they welcome volunteers at local events, advocates who support their work through word of mouth and all “supporters who want to help us continue our mission of creating visibility, inclusion and support for LGBTQ+ drivers across the country.”
“Whether you’re a driver, an ally, a company, or someone who simply believes in our mission, there’s a place for you in our community,” he says. “If you’d like to get involved, partner with us, volunteer or support our work, we invite you to reach out. Together, we can continue building a stronger, safer and more inclusive trucking industry for everyone.”
He also has an ask for everyone else on the road.
“Take a moment to think about the next truck driver you pass on the highway and maybe offer a little more respect and appreciation for the work they do,” Coffey-Loy says. “Behind the wheel could be a lesbian couple, a gay man, a transgender driver or someone from any walk of life. Truck drivers come from all backgrounds, yet they share a common purpose — keeping America moving.”
For more information and to support the LGBTQ+ Truck Driver Network, visit LGBTQTruckDriverNetwork.com. Learn more about “The Trans Trucker Project” at Hansen.Bursic.com/Project/The-Trans-Trucker-Project.
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