Welp, that happened.
Actually, there’s no past tense about it. Electing Trump is going to have repercussions for years… generations, really.
The United States faced a question about who we wanted to be, and unfortunately, the answer is really ugly. The race was between a well-qualified moderate Black and Indian woman and a racist loudmouth rapist and we made the wrong choice.
Man. The thing about the U.S. is that if you care about people, if you want to prevent harm, if you believe that we have an obligation to help the people who need it most, well, this country continuously breaks your heart.
There are a million post-election breakdowns out there, so you don’t need another one from me. But I did hear rumbling on the left about voter fraud and, well, no. U.S. elections are safe and secure, and this one was safe, secure, and had a horrific outcome. But I understand that doing conspiratorial deep dives into voting machines is easier than accepting that we live in an incredibly racist and misogynistic country that elevates the worst men to the highest levels of power. This is especially hard for white people to grapple with. But grapple we must.
We’re heading into the Nightmare Scenario: A Trump presidency with a majority Republican U.S. House (most likely as ballots are still being counted. Would love to be wrong!) and Senate AND a Republican majority Supreme Court. There are literally no checks or balances, folks. Shit is going to get bad.
Chances that Obergefell v. Hodges gets overturned, undoing marriage equality is high. Hell, this court will probably overturn Lawrence v. Texas (2003), making sex between two people of the same sex illegal again; Romer v. Evans (1996) so that LGBTQ+ people are no longer protected under the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause; and United States v. Windsor (2013), reinstating 1996’s Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) that defined marriage as a “legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife.”
Things are going to get ugly. Well, they’re already ugly. But they’re going to get uglier. Especially for LGBTQ+ kids. Things have been getting worse for years.
“Since Donald Trump’s election in 2016, LGBTQ youth have faced relentless attacks on their rights, attacks that have continued at the state level over the last 8 years, even after Trump left office,” reports Teen Vogue. “Now that Trump — a convicted felon who has also been found liable for sexual abuse — has been elected to a second term, experts and queer and trans youth alike fear these attacks may only get worse.”
There’s something to be said about a group of adults who gang up on a marginalized population of kids and I promise you that thing is NSFW. But for Republicans, hate is their strategy and after their big win don’t expect them to back off. If you are a young LGBTQ+ person, it’s really important to remember that you’re not alone.
Teen Vogue has a list of resources to help and first person accounts of LGBTQ+ kids reacting to Trump’s election. It’s more than worth a read.
I should note that there were some bright spots to be found in the election results. Democrat Sarah McBride became the first transgender person elected to Congress. Good work, Delaware!
In fact, LGBTQ+ candidates nationwide did pretty well, according to the Victory Fund, an organization dedicated to electing LGBTQ+ candidates.
“Candidates performed very well overall on election night, with historic firsts in many key races and increased representation in the U.S. House and retaining presence in the U.S. Senate,” Sean Meloy, vice president of political programs for LGBTQ+ Victory Fund, told NBC News. “These wins are hopeful, especially as their voices in federal government will be critical under the next administration.” Check out the Victory Fund’s website at victoryfund.org to see who was elected where.
But as they say, hope doesn’t pay the bills. Or pass the bills. But it does make getting out of bed morning after morning a little bit easier.
Remember that a hostile political climate for LGBTQ+ people isn’t new.
“The LGBTQ community has been here before, as have all other marginalized communities,” said GLAAD President and CEO, Sarah Kate Ellis. “We must see this moment of crisis as another catalyst for change,” Ellis said in a statement. “Our community knows how to take care of each other, and how to push our country and world forward.”
Against all odds, we have. And against all odds, we will.