For LGBTQ+ Americans, their rights and freedom to be themself are at stake in the upcoming election. In this post, I’ll recap some of the major events in LGBTQ+ policy from President Biden’s inauguration to the present day, and how that will likely impact the issues that LGBTQ+ voters will care about.
2021 set the table with some of the major trends of the last three years on LGBTQ+ rights: Republicans attacking LGBTQ+ people, particularly youth, through state governance., 2021 also marked one of the beginnings of one of the other major themes of the last four years: anti-LGBTQ+ legislation in states. Beginning in 2021, over 250 pieces of legislation were introduced to roll back LGBTQ+ rights in state legislatures, predominantly focusing on transgender youth. Seven bills were passed to limit transgender participation in school sports and the first bill limited trans care in Arkansas. However, the Biden administration pushed for LGBTQ+ equality. During Biden’s first weeks in office, multiple executive orders were signed, notably implementing the decision in Bostock vs Clayton County in Executive Order 13988, reversing the ban on transgender members of the military, postponing changes on LGBTQ+ adoption and HIV testing, and applying the Fair Housing Act to LGBTQ+ people. Biden also included LGBTQ+ voices in his cabinet, with Pete Buttigieg being the first openly gay cabinet member and Rachel Levine becoming the first openly transgender person confirmed by the Senate.
2022 continued the attacks on LGBTQ+ youth, with the introduction of the Don’t Say Gay law in Florida. This law, officially titled the “Parental Rights in Education Act,” limited LGBTQ+ expression in classrooms. Any discussion of diversity could get teachers in trouble. The attacks on LGBTQ+ students continued throughout the year, with numerous states banning transgender youth from getting onto hormone replacement therapy (HRT.) LGBTQ+ communities were harmed as well through 2022, with drag events being attacked by conservative politicians and the shooting at Club Q, an LGBTQ+ nightclub in Colorado Springs.
Yet, The 2022 midterms provided a glimmer of hope. Over 340 LGBTQ+ candidates won in a “rainbow wave’, including Maura Healey and Tina Kolek becoming the first lesbian governors and James Roesener becoming the first trans male state legislator. 2022 also ended with the codifying of the decision of Obergerfell vs Hodges via the Respect for Marriage Act, signed by President Biden (right.) Not only did it codify Obergerfell, it also repealed the Defense of Marriage Act (which banned federal recognition of same-sex marriage.)
2023 continued the trend of LGBTQ+ attacks, leading to the Human Rights Campaign declaring a “state of emergency” for LGBTQ+ Americans. Hundreds of laws attacking trans youth were introduced with 75 passing in state legislatures, books with LGTBQ+ themes were banned from libraries, and corporations were berated for showing any semblance of solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community. A false story led to the Supreme Court siding with an evangelical web designer which now allows people to refuse work if the producer disagrees with their beliefs. A small victory was gained when the FDA reversed the ban on gay men donating blood, a major victory for advocates.
So far in 2024, the story has repeated itself once again. Republicans have paraded attacks in state legislatures and now in Congress against the LGBTQ+ community, with conservatives attacking LGBTQ+ youth in schools and restricting preferred pronoun usage and gender affirming care.
There’s a common denominator to all of this: the Republican Party. They were the ones who supported the charge to pass laws that depressed LGBTQ+ youth. They were the ones who led attacks and faux boycotts on companies that showed support for the LGBTQ+ community. They were the ones who protested and called bomb threats at drag shows. They were the ones to remove books from libraries because they had a singular gay character. They were the ones who voted against the Respect for Marriage Act. Every time the LGBTQ+ community has come under attack, it’s the fault of the Republican Party. The entire fate of the American LGBTQ+ community, and the LGBTQ+ community in the world, is up for grabs when Americans go to the polls in November.
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