No, Honey, Conservatives Are Not Better for LGBTQ Folks Than Progressives

Conservatives believe they’re the best option for LGBTQ people post Orlando. No, honey. Just no.

Have you noticed that all of a sudden conservative leaders are pretending to love The Gays™ and trying to convince us that they’re on our side? There are even gay folks out there shilling for Trump and trying to tell us that we’d be better off if we abandoned our progressive allies in favor of “pragmatic” conservatives.

Honey, no. Just no. 

Let’s talk about why this is such a stupid proposition, ok?

Pretty much by definition, and certainly by experience, conservatives just don’t like LGBTQ people. They don’t like us because of who we are, who we love, and how we live our lives. They find our very existence to be a threat to them because we refuse to fit into the boxes that they created. 

Conservatives have a terrible track record when it comes to LGBTQ people, and it’s not something they can out run any time soon: 

• Conservatives criminalized our sex lives.
• Conservatives were adamantly against us serving openly in the military – and we’re still fighting that battle today.
• Conservatives passed laws prohibiting us from adopting children and raising families.
• Conservatives passed laws prohibiting us from marrying the people we love.
• Conservatives threw us in jail for going to bars with people who were like us.
• Conservatives continue to prohibit us from donating blood because they think we’re a danger to society.
• Conservatives are passing laws making it illegal for many of us to go to the bathroom.
• Conservatives are passing laws making it legal for them to discriminate against us based on their religious beliefs.
• Conservatives refuse to pass laws making it illegal to fire us or kick us out of our houses simply because of who we are.
• Conservatives are fighting schools that create gay-straight alliances because they don’t want kids to know that queer people exist.
• Conservatives are against comprehensive sex education in schools because they’re afraid we’ll turn the children gay.
• Conservatives are in favor of abusive “conversion therapy” treatment, which has been shown to cause irreparable harm and doesn’t work.
• Conservatives are against anti-bullying policies and laws that protect LGBTQ students.
• Conservatives are against providing trans-affirming healthcare.
• Conservatives placed numerous roadblocks in front of access to health and legal safety for transgender people.
• Conservatives lead the campaign to make it illegal for gay people to be teachers because they didn’t want us around their children.
• Conservatives fought against federal hate crimes laws and continue to fight against state and local hate crimes laws.
• Conservatives believe using the proper pronouns and referring to us by our names is offensive and pedantic.
• Conservative have been fighting against our full legal equality for decades.

So what could conservatives possibly think makes them better for LGBTQ people?

They like guns, and they want us to like guns, too. Also they’re incredibly xenophobic, particularly, Islamaphobic, and to them, that’s all the reason they need.

That’s it. That’s their argument. They love guns and they hate Muslims, and they think that we should too. 

(I should note that there are plenty of LGBTQ folks who like guns and that’s fine and there are also plenty of progressives who like guns too but that’s not what I’m trying to make this column about.)

The conservative argument for LGBTQ equality isn’t one of acceptance and affirmation. It’s Islamaphobia and hoplophilia. When conservatives say that LGBTQ people should join them, what they’re really saying is that if we were anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim, we’d be better off. They’re saying that the only reason Orlando happened was solely because of radical Islamic terror, and that if we all had guns, the shooter wouldn’t have had a chance. 

Neither of those things is true, of course, and neither of those things will make us any safer. Engaging in Islamaphobia won’t make our world a better place and there’s no empirical evidence that says having more guns makes us safer. Does anyone really think that someone who’s been drinking and partying all night would have the capacity to safely use a gun?

Conservatives are trying to scare us. That’s it. They’re trying to prey on our vulnerability and our fears in the wake of Orlando and it’s disgusting. And sadly, it’s not at all surprising.

Conservatives are NOT better for LGBTQ people than progressives. History has shown that they’re not better for our safety, for our health, for our families, or for our children. Anyone who says otherwise is ignoring the past – hell, they’re ignoring the present.

So when a conservative tells you we’d be better off with them? No, honey. Just no. 

 

Robbie Medwed is an Atlanta-based LGTBTQ activist and educator. His column appears here weekly. Follow him on Twitter: @rjmedwed.

 

Image:
Top by Gage Skidmore via Flickr and a CC license
Bottom by #NeverHillary via Twitter