The Republican Party is too media savvy to openly admit that they are using LGBT rights as a wedge issue but just because Republicans aren’t saying “we hate the LGBT community”, doesn’t mean it isn’t true. My parents always told me that actions speak louder than words. And one needn’t have the deductive reasoning skills of Sherlock Holmes to realize that the Republican Party sees targeting the LGBT community as a way to rally their fracturing party.
My parents always told me that actions speak louder than words.
Two weeks ago I wrote, Why the LGBT community still needs pride, after watching several southern states pass discriminatory legislation specifically targeting the LGBT community (many under the guise of “religious freedom”). At the time I wrote, “It seems like the South has declared war on the LGBT community.” Now I realize I was naive to blame this solely on the South. While the exact number of anti-LGBT legislation introduced in states in 2016 is up for debate, the trend cannot be disputed and it is happening all over the country.
This is troubling for me to watch, and I would imagine horrifyingly frightening for a young man or woman struggling to come to terms with their sexuality or gender. The Wisconsin Gazette recently published a state-by-state overview of anti-LGBT bills. You can check out what is happening in your state, here.
Anti-LGBT legislation seems to almost always be initiated by Republican state legislators. The chances of those bills becoming laws are increasingly likely if there are Republican majorities in the state house and a Republican governor. Since Massachusetts started recognizing same sex marriages in 2004 the Republican party has used marriage rights as a wedge issue – initially with a great deal of success but in recent elections to a lesser extent.
The 2015 US Supreme Court ruling recognizing our marriage rights coupled with the death of Justice Scalia has rallied conservatives who are using “Religious Freedom” as an excuse to legalize discrimination and to play on unfounded fears that the transgendered community is a bunch of predatory sickos who want to take over public restrooms – when the reality is more Republican politicians have been arrested for sex acts in public restrooms than trans people.
BosGuy 