When the Supreme Court in 2015 affirmed the right of same-sex couples to marry, it looked like both the culmination of a long fight for equality and the catalyst for more rights and protections for LGBTQ+ people. Polling showed a steady increase in support for equal rights, with growing majorities of Americans saying same-sex marriage was not only legally sound but morally acceptable. There’s been a steady increase in the number of openly LGBTQ+ elected officials. Corporations actively recruited LGBTQ+ workers and featured same-sex couples in ads for household products.
But recently, advocates fear the trend is coming to a screeching halt. The number of bills and state laws targeting the LGBTQ+ community – largely transgender people – has exploded in the past year. In Florida, teachers up to 12th grade can’t discuss sexual orientation or gender identity with students in class. In many states, trans youth are banned from getting gender-affirming care and are barred from trying out for the sports team they want.
In Montana, trans people officially don’t exist under a law passed in May that says residents are the sex they were assigned at birth. Trans people say the law excludes them from anti-discrimination protections in myriad chapters of Montana state law.
Corporations that had embraced the LGBTQ+ community both as a source of talent and as a market are being boycotted for selling pride month-themed products (Target) or using a trans woman in ads (Budweiser). And in a startling reversal, the the percentage of people who think same-sex marriage is “morally” acceptable has dropped, with Gallup finding that 64% agreed in June it’s morally OK, compared to to 71% who agreed with that statement in May.
“Attacks on LGBTQ people are not in the rearview mirror,” says Justin Unga, vice president of strategic initiatives for the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s leading LGBTQ+ rights group. “It’s clear they [politicians] are trying to animate the most extreme part of their base in order to win primary elections.”
Driving the backlash, experts say, is a renewed focus on the transgender community, fueled by politics. At the religious conservative Faith and Freedom conference in Washington, D.C., last month, GOP candidates got more applause castigating trans women for competing in women’s sports than they did for denouncing abortion.
For social conservatives and the politicians who want their votes, the face of LGBTQ+ rights is no longer a loving, same-sex couple exchanging vows. It’s a sad-faced girl, denied a position on a sports team because a trans girl took the spot.
There is a sincere and serious debate over trans youth, with even some trans adults questioning whether minors should be transitioning or whether they are getting the necessary counseling and mental health treatment before any physical transitioning.
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Athletic governing groups and lawmakers in both parties are balking at allowing trans girls and women to participate in all females’ sports teams (the Biden administration has proposed rules that would prohibit schools from imposing an across-the-board ban on trans girls and women being on those teams but would allow bans on a case-by-case basis).
But advocates worry that the debates over trans youth and athletes are being used for a broader assault on gay, lesbian and bisexual people.
An ad by the presidential campaign of GOP Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis slams his leading opponent, Donald Trump, for supporting LGBTQ+ rights. The ad – since deleted from Twitter – goes further than trans rights, however, showing video of bare-chested men at a Pride parade and castigating Trump for pledging to “protect” LGBTQ people – a comment Trump made after 49 people were fatally shot at Pulse, a gay nightclub in DeSantis’ home state.
Tennessee’s GOP Gov. Bill Lee rejected $8.8 million in federal funds for groups helping AIDS patients. Critics believe the move was meant to punish health organizations that help trans people. Iowa last month passed a law removing HIV/AIDS education as part of the required curriculum in schools, a move health officials believe will hurt the LGBTQ+ community.
Other states have banned or restricted diversity equity and inclusion programs. Two states – Missouri and South Dakota – have specifically prohibited schools or districts from adding LGBTQ+ protections to anti-bullying policies, according to the Movement Advancement Project, which tracks legislation affecting LGBTQ+ people.
“What we’re seeing in the last two-three years is a really remarkable and dramatic escalation of anti-LGBTQ efforts,” says the project’s Logan Casey. “They’re coming for trans rights and they’re coming after the whole LGBTQ community.”
So far this year, at least 735 bills have been introduced targeting LGBTQ+ people – more than double the number introduced last year, which was then a record year, according to the project’s tallies.
Nor are advocates confident that the courts will stop the efforts – although some have been stayed by the courts. The Supreme Court recently ruled in favor of a Colorado web designer who didn’t want to create wedding websites for same-sex couples, they note. And Justice Clarence Thomas, in his concurring opinion undoing guaranteed abortion rights, suggested that same-sex marriage could be imperiled on the same legal grounds.
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“I think a lot of people have been surprised at the backlash toward transgender rights,” since public opinion had been moving steadily toward acceptance of the community, says Melissa Deckman, CEO of PRRI, a group that studies the intersection of religion, values and public policy.
“This is a very deliberate attempt by the Christian right or conservative forces to highlight these issues, since they’re not really winning on other issues when it comes to same-sex marriage” and related rights, she says.
Dr. Kellan Baker, executive director of the Whitman-Walker Institute and a specialist in gender-affirming care, thinks authors of anti-trans legislation have a misguided idea of what transitioning means for different age groups. But Baker also says the issue is being used to attack rights the LGBTQ+ has already earned.
“They’re relitigating fights they had lost about marriage equality for same-sex couples,” Baker says.
Meanwhile, advocates for some restrictions on trans treatment or sports participation say the whole issue has been twisted into a political fight that doesn’t help anyone.
South Carolina state Sen. Josh Kimbrell, a Republican, says he authored a bill banning gender-affirming treatment for youth because “it’s really a life-changing decision that’s not easily reversible.
“As an adult, you can do what you want,” Kimbrell says.
Christiana Kiefer, senior counsel for the Alliance Defending Freedom, is litigating against allowing trans girls and women to play on female sports teams because “it’s an issue of fairness.” Trans women should also be kept out of places like females’ locker rooms and domestic abuse shelters – but for reasons of privacy and not exclusion, Kiefer says.
Protecting children is cited by trans advocates and social conservatives. A youth who identifies as a different gender than assigned at birth needs living care, Baker says. And that doesn’t mean a quick trip to the surgeon, Baker cautions – it starts with counseling, then puberty blockers as a next step. Surgery may never even be employed, Baker says.
Terry Schilling, executive director of the American Principles Project, says kids are endangered not just by being exposed to books and discussions on transgenderism at school but being nudged by a medical “industry” bent on providing high-priced transitioning treatments.
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“The momentum on the LGBT issues didn’t shift until it became clear there was some kind of agenda aimed at our kids,” Schilling says. “Once the American people realized they were victims of some aspects of the LGBT agenda, that’s when it shifted.”
Poisoning the discussion, critics say, is heated rhetoric all the way around – with the far left accusing one side of being hateful, and the far right (including lawmakers such as Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green of Georgia) deeming trans people and their medical advocates as “groomers,” child abusers and pedophiles.
Earlier in July, seven state attorneys general wrote to Target, accusing the retail giant of possibly violating state child protection laws by marketing “obscene” Pride month-themed items to children. The letter specifically mentions “tuck-friendly” swimsuits, although the company has said the bathing suits are marketed and sized for adults only.
The far left is promoting a “radical gender theory” that defines gender as a social construct absent any biology, laments Charles Moran, president of Log Cabin Republicans, a GOP group backing LGBT+ rights. Moran opposes transgender medical treatment for minors but believes the government should otherwise leave trans people alone.
“Now, are there elements of the conservative community, social conservative groups that are taking advantage of this? Absolutely,” Moran says, adding that he “went through the roof” after viewing the DeSantis ad.
“The far left and the far right are dominating the narrative around this issue,” Moran says. “They’re hijacking the entire debate and running it off the rails. It’s crazy.”
Barbara Marie Minney, a conservative trans woman and poet who describes herself as a “quiet activist,” says she wishes her very identity could stay just that – and not be made into a political issue.
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“What is being represented as the transgender community today is not reflective of people like myself, who just want to live our lives and be accepted – in my case, as a woman,” Minney says.
With the rhetoric and legislating aimed at LGBTQ+ people as the 2024 campaign heats up, Minney may need to wait awhile.
