Well, that didn’t take long. Donald Trump’s transphobia — most recently witnessed by the removal of all trans references on the Stonewall National Monument website — has evolved into homophobia faster than an Elon Musk government raid. But evolved isn’t the right word, since the homophobia had merely been biding its time until the Gays for Trump vote could be milked dry. Anyone with basic literary skills and common sense knew Trump was never on the side of gay and lesbian people, and the scrubbing of HIV resources from the CDC’s webpages, the push to end DEI initiatives and, most recently, the events at the Kennedy Center, prove it.
Last week, Trump dismissed the Kennedy Center’s board of directors and named himself chairman. He then named acolyte and antigay gay man (because anyone who supports Trump is no friend to the gay community) Rick Grenell as executive director. Then, most recently, the Center canceled the May 21 performance of “A Peacock Among Pigeons: Celebrating 50 Years of Pride” featuring the Washington Gay Men’s Chorus and the National Symphony Orchestra Pops.
It starts with something as innocuous as a canceled choral performance. Then it spreads to larger events and institutions. Books get banned. Flags get thrown out. Words get blocked on social media and on government web pages. How long before even more LGBTQ+ voices are silenced? How long before even more words are censored? How long before civil rights, won through decades of hard work, are destroyed by the courts?
Judging by the speed at which Trump, Musk and Project 2025 employees are dismantling the government, it won’t take long.
Sadly, the Republicans currently ripping away our civil rights are supported by members of the LGBTQ+ community, albeit ones who’d prefer to have nothing to do with the last two letters. The “LGB” movement, which has spread rapidly over the last decade thanks to celebrity supporters like J.K. Rowling, packages its transphobia under the guise of protecting LGB people from homophobia. But the reality is that LGB groups like the LGB Alliance seek to stop trans people from being part of the LGBTQ+ community, from getting healthcare, or even from coming out.
When Donald Trump signed the executive order “Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism And Restoring Biological Truth To The Federal Government,” the LGB Alliance supported it, slyly hinting that trans people don’t exist: “Sex is binary and immutable. We support President Trump writing this fact into law through today’s executive order. Pretending otherwise confuses kids – especially those who are struggling to accept their LGB sexual orientation.” Take note of the coded transphobia in the phrase “pretending otherwise.”
If you are an LGB person and you support Trump’s rampage against trans people, you enable his efforts to discriminate against all people, including yourselves. And it won’t be as temporary as a canceled chorus performance. Groups like the LGB Alliance are deluding themselves in thinking that Trump will only go after trans people. When the LGB Alliance publicly supports Trump, they make it easy for him, and all Republicans, to hide their bigotry. After all, it’s not the “majority” of LGBTQ+ people they’re targeting, just the minority who doesn’t matter.
But the LGB people should know: the Trump Administration will go after the most vulnerable targets first. Then they’ll set their sights on you.
Supporting any of Trump’s actions only helps to normalize everything he does. Sure, he can fire myriad government employees, weaken our nuclear defense and aviation safety systems, and give your social security number and tax data to a bunch of teenagers, but he gets a pass on all of that stuff because he legislated trans people out of existence. It’s like staying with an abusive spouse because they once said something you agreed with. I hope that communal transphobia helps soften the blow when your identity gets stolen and your bank account gets hacked. I hope it makes it better when you can’t fly to see loved ones because there aren’t enough air traffic controllers. I hope it helps ease the pain when your medication is no longer covered under your health plan.
I hope your transphobia is worth it.