I assumed Hillary would win. I knew that the moment it was final I would be annoyed, but it simply never occurred to me to cry. The president of the United States is the head of one branch of government. The president is not a king. We vote every four years and progressively we have assigned ever more power to this individual ― the exact situation the separation of powers was intended to prevent. Every four years we each scream about a potential savior and the absolute end of our country as we know it.
Every four years.
But this year is unique and the nonsense is profound. I can say with absolute certainty that there is not a politician in this country that could inspire me to weep with joy or despair. I was concerned about Hillary. I was worried about the consequences of additional leftist Supreme Court Justices. I was insecure with her foreign policy and domestic agenda. But I was never afraid.
The notion of Americans being afraid of their president is absurd, and yet we are witnessing an emotional and psychological meltdown across our nation that can only be described as an epidemic. People have lost the ability to reason. Of the multitude of examples, the irrational demand that Trump is somehow a threat to gay people needs addressed.
Something LGBTQ need to understand is that in our system of government rights are not granted and our president cannot take them away. President Trump simply cannot take away gay marriage. It just doesn’t work that way. To be sure, there is no reason to believe Trump would want to if he could. In 2005, when both Obama and Hillary opposed gay marriage, Trump said this of Elton John and David Furnish’s marriage:
“I know both of them, and they get along wonderfully. It’s a marriage that’s going to work,” Mr. Trump wrote, adding: “I’m very happy for them. If two people dig each other, they dig each other.”
What Trump has expressed disagreement with, to which I agree with him, is compulsory nation-wide, same-sex marriage requirements on the states. Trump is not a conservative by any means, but he respects the autonomy of the states (as does Obama regarding marijuana legalization.) Trump supports overturning Obergefell via the Supreme Court for the same reason I do: It isn’t Constitutionally sound and it unfairly limits the states which should be making their own marriage laws.
However, Trump cannot will this into being. Cases must be viewed by the Supreme Court; they are not assigned by the president. He could replace the entire court with his personal nominees and they would still require a valid court case to review. Even then it is highly unlikely due to the nature of the decision itself which invoked the 14th Amendment. If Obergefell were to be overturned it would not impact same-sex marriage at all, it would simply lift the restriction on the states against defining marriage between one man and one woman. Each state would have to choose to nullify the thousands upon thousands of legally recognized same-sex marriages performed in their state. This just isn’t going to happen.
Donald Trump has openly supported transgender individuals using whatever restroom they wish, famously inviting Caitlyn Jenner to use the restroom of her choice in Trump Tower and opposing North Carolina’s controversial HB2 law. He is not a religious conservative but he supports legal protections to ensure religious freedom. LGBTQ obsessively demand religious freedom is code for "legalized discrimination against LGBTQ" but this is merely a political tactic with no logical or rational basis.
Trump has openly embraced his gay supporters, displaying the rainbow flag with ‘LGBT for Trump’ written on it at a recent event. High profile gay advocates like Milo Yiannopolous and Chris Barron are enthusiastic supporters and the hashtag #GaysforTrump trended on Twitter. He likely wouldn’t support the Equality Act for the same reasons, again, as I wouldn’t due to its overreaching abuse of Federal power and its unnecessary precedent.
Simply put: There really is no specific reason LGBTQ would oppose Trump and certainly no reason to fear him.
To claim Trump would negatively impact LGBTQ rights is honestly a routine argument used when demonstrating opposition to any generic Republican. LGBTQ like to wrap extremely leftist policy in emotional terms like ‘Marriage Equality’ to intimidate people from opposing them. They then claim Republicans are anti-gay when they speak out against said policies.
The arguments I see are generalized “He doesn’t support policies we want, therefore he hates us!” which I do not recognize as valid.
I would say Donald Trump is neutral to positive towards the generalized world of LGBTQ. He lived in New York City as a TV personality billionaire for goodness sake. Why would anyone imagine he has a problem with gay people?
Gay people tend to demand that Trump opposes "pro-LGBTQ" policies or could impact some right or another and his choice of a socially conservative vice president solidified the confirmation bias. But this is really a case of "it's not always about the gays." Trump just hasn’t focused on us either way and why should he? Gays in the United States are not really a high priority right now. We have an extremely low hate crime rate (0.01 percent of our population), we’ve been getting married to members of the same sex for years now, discrimination is so rare it is largely faked, most people are perfectly nice and accepting, HIV/AIDS is managed well and there are no legitimate legal concerns facing us.
What LGBTQ is upset about is we are still refusing to submit to their never-ending list of ridiculous identity-political demands and Trump is notorious for standing up to this kind of bullying.
I also think most LGBTQ genuinely believe, due to the constant propaganda of the the LGBTQ media, that the right hates them and Trump, by default, must too. We have watched hysterical cries of how dangerous Trump will be for everyone for so long its difficult to separate out the factual reality. The truth is we are not likely to come up at all and that’s a good thing. That’s what equality truly looks like.
I am not a Trump supporter or fan and I have absolutely no problem with opposition to his policies, ideas or actions. But this silly narrative needs to end.
Considering Hillary Clinton was funded by nations around the world that execute gay people per state law, this assertion is beyond parody.
I understand that the left is upset, just as the right would be if Hillary had won. I appreciate the discomfort with Trump and I even understand the generalized anxiety. But fear is just going too far and especially for gay people. We have to get to a place where we can engage in political debate without resorting to irrational histrionics. Gays: it really is fine. Trump isn’t going to hurt you I promise.
Over the next four years we will see all manner of outrageous attention-grabbing nonsense that will make the Bush years seem tame and boring and I am certain the LGBTQ media will never cease in their contributions. But four years from now gays across the nation will be living their lives just as they are now and hopefully will feel pretty silly over their meltdown today.
Not every event has to be the end of the world and remember, we have a representative government. The less power you assign at the highest levels the less you, as an individual, have to worry about someone abusing that power. Small government means more direct influence on said government by you.
In the meantime, you have plenty of things to worry about with this new transition, but LGBTQ rights simply are not one of them. Stop the fear-mongering.