It's Time to Defy the GOP's New Anti-LGBT Laws

Across America Republican controlled legislatures have embarked on a new anti-LGBT campaign and are passing anti-LGBT and anti-transgender bills at an alarming rate.  It is a part of the GOP's agenda of racism, bigotry and pandering to religious extremism in the hope of motivating the party's increasingly hideous base of support even though surveys show that a majority of Americans support LGBT nondiscrimination protections.   And make no mistake, if Glenn Youngkin - a darling of The Family Foundation, Virginia's most powerful hate group -  wins and November and Republicans regain control of the General Assembly, such laws will be introduced in Virginia. Such discriminatory laws would be a dream come true for the hate mongers at The Family Foundation.  A piece in the New York Times the need for business owners and those in positions of authority to defy such laws.  Here are highlights:

Last month, Gov. Bill Lee of Tennessee signed into law a discriminatory bill to prevent transgender people from using restrooms aligning with their gender identity at any business or place of public accommodation. A few days earlier, Governor Lee signed an anti-transgender student bathroom bill, too. These are the first bathroom bills to be enacted since North Carolina’s notorious HB2 in 2016.

Far from state legislative outliers, these new laws are the latest in a series of unprecedented legislative assaults aimed at trans people that have swept state houses this year, officially making 2021 the worst year for anti-L.G.B.T.Q. legislation in recent history.

L.G.B.T.Q. Americans — and particularly transgender and nonbinary people — are not simply living in a state of emergency, we are living in many states of imminent danger. The usual calls to action aren’t enough against these threats; we are now firmly in the territory of needing those in positions of authority to actively defy these laws — especially those enforcement agencies and leaders tasked with implementing the unconstitutional and un-American assaults on the civil rights of millions of L.G.B.T.Q. people.

This is a crucial political fight with big implications for the 2022 elections to control the House, Senate and key governors’ offices. Anti-equality extremists are clearly targeting transgender people again to score political points by demonizing marginalized communities and mischaracterizing movements like Black Lives Matter. They want to convince voters that Democrats are out of the mainstream in their efforts to prioritize the freedom and dignity of all people. Those false arguments have misled voters before, and some conservatives, like former Gov. Pat McCrory of North Carolina, will think that demonizing marginalized groups as a wedge issue can carry them to the ballot box.

But with 7 in 10 voters supporting equality and 1 in 6 youth and young adults identifying as L.G.B.T.Q., they will also learn this is a losing approach. And we cannot take anything for granted. We need to take action now to prove the anti-trans arguments are wrong and unjust and to draw maximum attention to what Republican leaders in these states are trying to do.

Defying the law is a big step, but nothing less than our civil rights are at stake. Which is why we’re taking our fight to the courtroom, challenging anti-trans laws like the one Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida signed last week.

L.G.B.T.Q. people need more ally leaders like District Attorney General Glenn Funk of Nashville, who has taken a stand against the Tennessee legislature by refusing to enforce what Mr. Funk calls “hate,” asserting, “I believe every person is welcome and valued in Nashville. Enforcement of transphobic or homophobic laws is contrary to those values.”

Defiant intervention is also needed from those expected to enforce medical care bans for trans people, which simply shock the conscience. This includes laws like those in Arkansas where legislators have banned critical, gender-affirming medical care for transgender children, and states where lawmakers are seeking to not only label a parent who supports their transgender child’s health care as a “child abuser” but also subject them and their doctors to felony jail time.

Doctors across the country have testified that children living in these states, already facing grave challenges, are being put directly in harm’s way. What’s worse, L.G.B.T.Q. people and their families are being forced to flee their homes and move across state lines to protect themselves and their children — creating a further destabilizing effect on children and families across the country.

These bills are searching for problems that don’t exist — there simply is not a sudden population explosion of trans people, nor any sort of demand for special or new rights. This is about fairness and equal treatment. And, plainly, this is about blatant and shameful Republican attempts to erase L.G.B.T.Q. people from existence. While legislators advance these bills to score political points, the consequences for the L.G.B.T.Q. community, and particularly transgender people, are destabilizing and dangerous: these bills are helping to fuel a wave of anti-trans violence.

Despite the majority of voters in the United States opposing these types of laws — including a majority of Republican voters — extremist legislators continue advancing measures at a breakneck pace. That’s why L.G.B.T.Q. Americans — living under the archaic governance of leaders who have found value in devaluing us — need more than a tweet of support for our community. We need defiant intervention from employers, educators, health care professionals, community leaders and every American who believes in equality.

Let’s remember that this country has enacted and promoted unconstitutional and discriminatory laws before that, for example, legitimized slavery, banned miscegenation and criminalized same-sex relationships — all eventually struck down because of a range of defiant interventions.