After years of progrs on gay rights, how did the US bee so anti-LGBTQ+? | US news | The Guardian

Contents:

• AFTER YEARS OF PROGRS ON GAY RIGHTS, HOW DID THE US BEE SO ANTI-LGBTQ+?
• GROUPS OPPOSED TO GAY RIGHTS RAKE LNS AS STAT BATE ANTI-LGBTQ BILLS
• HISTORY OF THE ANTI-GAY MOVEMENT SCE 1977
• THE POLICS OF GAY RIGHTS
• TMP VICTORY ALARMS GAY AND TRANSGENR GROUPS
• THE EFFECT OF THE PROMISCUY STEREOTYPE ON OPPOSN TO GAY RIGHTS

AFTER YEARS OF PROGRS ON GAY RIGHTS, HOW DID THE US BEE SO ANTI-LGBTQ+?

A rash of laws ncerng the teachg of human sexualy school curricula, banng trans stunt athlet and strippg parents of the right to help their genr-variant children obta appropriate re have popped up numero red stat this same-sex marriage is now part of the fabric of Ameri, nservativ have chosen to explo Amerins’ unfaiary wh trans people and piggyback on parental anger over the perceived overreach of Covid-era school closur, nflatg wh an sid sense of “wokens”, the hop of fdg an electorally viable sluiceway for anti-LGBTQ+ most famo of the anti-LGBTQ+ laws is the piece of Florida legislatn banng stctn on sexual orientatn or genr inty schools between krgarten and third gra, the so-lled “don’t say gay” law. The ernor and his supporters have labeled as a “groomer” anyone who believ children n learn LGBTQ+ people exist, argug that simply by talkg about gay relatnships to a child, you are sexualizg that child.

He was followed by Arizona’s ernor, Doug Ducey, who, after barrg mors om genr-affirmatn treatment, wouldn’t even state for the rerd that trans people were Florida lawmaker Michele Rayner-Goolsby, left, hugs her wife, Bian Goolsby, durg a march at cy hall St Petersburg agast the ‘don’t say gay’ bill.

Photograph: Bob Daemmrich/Zuma Wire/Rex/ShutterstockPolicians are supported the media by mentators like Tucker Carlson, who claimed “no one had heard of this trans thg four years ago”, or Charlie Kirk, channelg 1980s fears sayg “gays want to rpt your children” rejuvenated, the right wg is poised to make transphobia and homophobia rnerston of the midterms and 2024 electns, wh promis to liver “don’t say gay” legislatn stat cludg Michigan and New Perks, the print of the Fay Rearch Council, a nservative lobbyg group, veighed agast the ernors of Indiana and Utah for vetog legislatn banng trans women om participatg sports, llg the bills “timely, mastream protectns”. The Republin US reprentative Marjorie Taylor Greene vowed to troduce a feral “don’t say gay” bill if Republins w the Hoe this November, only to one-up herself days later by tweetg that for people to be pro-trans is to be pro-pedophilia.

GROUPS OPPOSED TO GAY RIGHTS RAKE LNS AS STAT BATE ANTI-LGBTQ BILLS

”The bs-iendly wg of the GOP that would quietly team up wh Democrats to scuttle rabidly homophobic bills is now outnumbered, and legislators a dozen or more stat that lean even farther to the right than DeSantis are takg, the Natnal Center for Lbian Rights legal director, believ Florida is the tt se for a renewed ph for an aggrsive, Christian-natnalist program.

HISTORY OF THE ANTI-GAY MOVEMENT SCE 1977

”The “don’t say gay” bill, Mter not, is very siar to what’s been passed Rsia, tetherg Amerin nservativ to their thorarian unterparts who have succsfully rolled back mocratic norms across eastern Europe. “I’ve seen this movie before over the last 30 years: The right wg cid to target the LGBTQ muny, whether ’s around marriage or adoptn or trans kids playg sports or bathrooms, ” says the California state senator Stt Wiener, who is gay.

“I thought was really important to ph back on the policy level, and to send a clear signal that California and other stat really re about the kids, ” he believ that “don’t say gay” is “patently unnstutnal” but also ntends that relyg on the judicial system to protect human rights may no longer be a sound optn. “Many of those, while not specifilly tied to a church, are rooted the nservative Christian, biblil sense of human sexualy, ” said Stt McCoy, the terim puty legal director for LGBTQ rights and special ligatn for the SPLC and the SPLC Actn Fund, the group’s polil actn simply holdg a relig belief that views homosexualy or transgenr inty as sful do not tomatilly land a church or an anizatn on the SPLC’s list of hate groups. 'The hard re of the anti-gay movement' When the SPLC began trackg anti-LGBTQ hate the early 2010s, the anizatn noted that “a small terie of groups now prise the hard re of the anti-gay movement.

“I am eply alarmed by a wispread, profoundly negative ripti created by liberate actns to roll back the human rights of LGBT people at state level, ” he said, notg that the clu eply discrimatory measur seekg to rebuild stigma agast lbian and gay persons, limg prehensive sexual and genr tn for all, and accs to genr-affirmg treatment, sports and sgle-sex facili for trans and genr diverse persons. The pany, whose CEO, Tim Cook, is the natn’s most visible gay executive, has ployed s lobbyists to oppose legislatn that lims protectns for trans and gay people or their fai Iowa, Florida, Texas and at least six other stat. The pro-LGBTQ group Equaly Florida said an email that s staff hadn’t noticed any of Apple’s lobbyg agast the new state law that rtricts teachers om talkg about genr and sexualy the classroom, which crics have dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” law.

THE POLICS OF GAY RIGHTS

Supporters of the new law say would ensure that the state’s youngt stunts learn about sexual orientatn and genr inty om their parents and not at school, but opponents say will create a hostile environment for gay and transgenr children or children om LGBTQ fai.

"The ADF is untg on you to jo them seeg the LGBTQ muny as an outsized threat pared to the actual percentage of adult Amerins who intify as lbian, gay, bisexual or transgenr, " Greenmh Supreme Court's cisn the se is "yet another weapon the arsenal or arm of the octop" of the "same people who are phg the legislatn, " Greenmh Amerins support LGBTQ rights, surveys fdAnother recent survey also found most Amerins support nondiscrimatn protectns for LGBTQ Amerin adults – cludg two-thirds of those intifyg as Catholics or Christians – disagree wh relig-based nial of medil re, employment or other servic to LGBTQ dividuals, acrdg to a September 2022 survey nducted by the Universy of Chigo partnership wh the Williams Instute, a thk tank dited to genr inty and sexual orientatn rearch at the Universy of California Los Angel School of, pollg that asks qutns on the right of a bs owner to refe service based on their relig beliefs shows more mixed rults.

Pl Cameron, former psychology stctor at Universy of Nebraska, begs publishg psdo-scientific pamphlets "provg" that gay people m more serial murrs, molt more children, and tentnally spread diseas.

TMP VICTORY ALARMS GAY AND TRANSGENR GROUPS

At the first Congrsnal heargs on anti-gay vlence, Kathleen Sarris of Indianapolis tells of beg stalked and asslted by a "Christian soldier" who held her at gunpot, beat and raped her for three hours, explag that "he was actg for God; that what he was dog to me was God's revenge on me bee I was a 'queer' and gettg rid of me would save children. Callg lbians and gay men "the ultimate enemy, " Dannemeyer acc straight people of "surrenrg to this growg army whout a shot, " and predicts gay rights will "plunge our people, and ed the entire Wt, to a dark night of the soul that uld last hundreds of years. The battle over gay marriage is igned when the Hawaii Supreme Court l that nyg same-sex upl marriage licens vlat "basic human rights" guaranteed the state nstutn — unls the state legislature n show a "pellg reason" to prevent gay marriage.

A aln of fundamentalist groups led by Coral Ridge Mistri sponsors "Tth Love, " a ln-dollar advertisg mpaign promotg "ex-gay mistri, " which e discreded psychologil methods to "cure" gay people. "Teletubbi" rtoon character Tky Wky is "outed" as gay a "Parents' Alert" Jerry Falwell's Liberty Journal, which asserts, "He is purple — the gay-pri lor; and his antenna is shaped like a triangle — the gay-pri symbol. On "The 700 Club" two days after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Jerry Falwell blam the tragedy on "the Pagans, and the abortnists, and the femists and the gays and lbians who are actively tryg to make that an alternative liftyle.

THE EFFECT OF THE PROMISCUY STEREOTYPE ON OPPOSN TO GAY RIGHTS

There is more energy the GOP for help for gay and transgenr issu than a lot of issu Bin r about, ” said Tyler Deaton, a Republin nsultant and senr adviser to the Amerin Uny Fund, which works to advance LGBTQ rights. “As print, he hired and promoted LGBT Amerins to the hight levels of ernment, cludg posns at the Whe Hoe, of which I was honored to be one of those people, Cabet agenci, cludg the first openly gay Cabet member, and ambassadorships. After he me out The Tim, he was showered wh praise and affectn om nstuents, lleagu and opponents symbolism was powerful: A generatn before, Gibb’s party, led by Margaret Thatcher, had systematilly monized lbian and gay Brons and outlawed the teachg of the “acceptabily of homosexualy as a pretend fay relatnship” through the much-reviled Sectn 28 of the Lol Government Act.

Brish voters apparently no longer see sexual orientatn or genr inty as relevant polilly: The 155 lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr ndidat who stood last month’s general electn did no worse than their straight lleagu.

In fact, the fifty rac where there were petive LGBT ndidat, Tory LGBT ndidat performed nsirably better; 72 percent had larger vote share creas than the natnal trend, and on average their gas were three tim the Tory ’s g out brgs the Tory lbian, gay and bisexual uc the Brish Hoe of Commons to thirteen, equal size to the Labour Party LGB group. Right-of-center policians who intify as LGB are members of parliaments Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Ireland, Lhuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Slovakia, Swen, and Swzerland, and there is likely to be a gay Likud MP the Israeli Knset soon. In Sndavia, this trend has gone on for while; fact, openly gay Per-Kristian Foss was briefly the Conservative Party’s actg Prime Mister of Norway the graph shows, the most rapid growth LGBT reprentatn has been among polil are Amerin Republins so different om their nservative unterparts on LGBT issu?

Among both Republins and Democrats, younger voters support gay rights larger numbers than any other across the board, Pew recently found that nearly 60 percent of Republins did not thk their party was dog a good job of reprentg them on the issue of marriage is the Republin Party so out of step wh voters? Bin, 77, grew up an era when homosexualy, the word routely ed at the time, was often viewed as a s and even a n slip to dated generalizatns about gay and lbian life, as he did an terview wh Anrson Cooper at an L. Talkg about what San Francis was like “15, 20 years ago, ” he said that the cy, wh s large muny of gay men and lbians, was “all about, well, you know, gay bathho, ” addg, “It’s all about round-the-clock sex.