Current GOP Senators
Okay, so we’ve established the positions of the party platforms. But candidates don’t always fall perfectly in line with that. So let’s do brief overviews of every single current GOP senator.
John Thune
Anti-LGBT Hate group FRC 2022 Endorsement
FRC Scorecard 117th Congress 88
No on Respect for Marriage Act
No on Employment Non-Discrimination Act
Human Rights Campaign scores:
Last 3 Congresses - 5, 0, 0
Voted no on a 2015 Franken Amendement that would ban discrimination based on sexual orientation in public schools.
John Barrasso
FRC 2018 Endorsement
FRC Scorecard 93
Chairman of the committee in charge of the 2016 platform so: against marriage equality, pro discrimination, pro conversion torture.
No on RfMA
HRC Scores: 5, 0, 0
Voted against Franken “don’t discriminate in schools” amendment.
Joni Ernst
FRC 2020 Endorsement
FRC Scorecard 71
HRC Scores: 19, 0, 0
Signed onto a brief arguing for religious discrimination in adoption in Fulton.
Voted against Franken “don’t discriminate in schools” amendment.
Issued a statement against Obergefell and marriage equality.
Shelley Moore Capito
FRC 2020 Endorsement
FRC Scorecard 63
HRC Scores: 19, 0, 0
Voted against Franken “don’t discriminate in schools” amendment.
Steve Daines
FRC 2020 Endorsement
FRC Scorecard 100
No on RFMA
HRC Scores: 5, 0, 0
Signed onto a brief in Obergefell urging SCOTUS not to recognize gay marriage.
Signed onto a brief arguing for religious discrimination in adoption in Fulton.
Voted against Franken “don’t discriminate in schools” amendment.
Issued a statement against Obergefell and marriage equality
Wants warnings on TV shows with lgbt people so parents can protect their poor widdle babies from knowing we exist. And deciding for some reason that the existence of LGBT people is inherently hyper-sexual
Marsha Blackburn
FRC 2018 Endorsement
FRC Scorecard 100
No on RFMA
HRC Scores: 0, 0, 0
As part of the 2012 GOP Nation Commitee leadership, filed a brief in Obergefell arguing for bans on gay marriage because something something the downfall of civil society.
Signed onto a brief arguing on the side of discrimination in Bostock.
Signed onto a brief arguing for religious discrimination in adoption in Fulton.
John Boozman
FRC 2022 Endorsement
FRC Scorecard 94
No on RFMA
No on ENDA
HRC Scores: 5, 0, 0
Signed onto a brief arguing for religious discrimination in adoption in Fulton.
Voted against Franken “don’t discriminate in schools” amendment.
Mike Braun
FRC 2018 Endorsement
FRC Scorecard 100
No on RFMA
HRC Scores: 5, 0
Signed onto a brief arguing on the side of discrimination in Bostock.
Signed onto a brief arguing for religious discrimination in adoption in Fulton.
Wants warnings on TV shows with lgbt people so parents can protect their poor widdle babies from knowing we exist. And deciding for some reason that the existence of LGBT people is inherently hyper-sexual.
Katie Britt
Voiced support for a Don’t Say Gay Bill in Alabama
Ted Budd
FRC 2022 Endorsement
FRC Scorecard when he was a Rep 100
No on RFMA
HRC Scores: 0, 0, 0
Signed onto a brief arguing for religious discrimination in adoption in Fulton.
Bill Cassidy
FRC 2020 Endorsement
FRC Scorecard 88
No on RFMA
HRC Scores: 12, 0, 0
Voted against Franken “don’t discriminate in schools” amendment.
Susan Collins
FRC Scorecard 35
HRC Scores: 54, 51, 33
John Cornyn
FRC 2020 Endorsement
FRC Scorecard 82
No on RFMA
No on ENDA
HRC Scores: 11, 0, 0
Signed onto a brief arguing on the side of discrimination in Bostock.
Voted against Franken “don’t discriminate in schools” amendment.
Made statements against Obergefell and marriage equality.
Tom Cotton
FRC 2020 Endorsement
FRC Scorecard 94
No on RFMA
HRC Scores: 0, 0, 0
Signed onto a brief arguing for religious discrimination in adoption in Fulton.
Voted against Franken “don’t discriminate in schools” amendment.
Kevin Cramer
FRC 2018 Endorsement
FRC Scorecard 100
No on RFMA
HRC Scores: 5, 0, 0
Signed onto a brief arguing on the side of discrimination in Bostock.
Signed onto a brief arguing for religious discrimination in adoption in Fulton.
Made comments against gay marriage while also saying he doesn’t give a shit about it.
Wants warnings on TV shows with lgbt people so parents can protect their poor widdle babies from knowing we exist. And deciding for some reason that the existence of LGBT people is inherently hyper-sexual.
Mike Crapo
FRC Scorecard 100
No on RFMA
No on ENDA
HRC Scores: 5, 0, 0
Voted against Franken “don’t discriminate in schools” amendment.
Made a statement against Obergefell and want for people to be able to define marriage in ways that demean and deny rights to others.
Deb Fischer
FRC 2018 Endorsement
FRC Scorecard 100
No on RFMA
No on ENDA
HRC Scores: 5, 0, 0
Voted against Franken “don’t discriminate in schools” amendment.
Chuck Grassley
FRC Scorecard 94
No on RFMA
No on ENDA
HRC Scores: 5, 0, 0
Voted against Franken “don’t discriminate in schools” amendment.
Made a statement against Obergefell.
Bill Hagerty
FRC Scorecard 100
No on RFMA
HRC Score: 0
Josh Hawley
FRC 2018 Endorsement
FRC Scorecard 100
No on RFMA
HRC Scores: 0, 0
Signed onto a brief arguing for religious discrimination in adoption in Fulton.
Made statements against Obergefell.
John Hoeven
FRC Scorecard 100
No on RFMA
No on ENDA
HRC Scores: 5, 0, 0
Voted against Franken “don’t discriminate in schools” amendment.
Cindy Hyde-Smith
FRC 2018, 2020 Endorsement
FRC Scorecard 94
No on RFMA
HRC Scores: 5, 0
Signed onto a brief arguing for religious discrimination in adoption in Fulton.
Was against a judge from her home state because he isn’t anti-trans.
Ron Johnson
FRC 2022 Endorsement
FRC Scorecard 100
No on RFMA
No on ENDA
HRC Scores: 5, 0, 0
Made statements against Obergefell.
John Kennedy
FRC Scorecard 100
No on RFMA
HRC Scores: 10, 0, 0
James Lankford
FRC 2022 Endorsement
FRC Scorecard 100
No on RFMA
HRC Scores: 0, 0, 0
Signed onto a brief in Obergefell urging SCOTUS not to recognize gay marriage.
Signed onto a brief arguing on the side of discrimination in Bostock.
Signed onto a brief arguing for religious discrimination in adoption in Fulton.
Voted against Franken “don’t discriminate in schools” amendment.
Mike Lee
FRC 2022 Endorsement
FRC Scorecard 100
No on RFMA
No on ENDA
HRC Scores: 5, 0, 0
Signed onto a brief arguing on the side of discrimination in Bostock.
Signed onto a brief arguing for religious discrimination in adoption in Fulton.
Voted against Franken “don’t discriminate in schools” amendment.
Wants warnings on TV shows with lgbt people so parents can protect their poor widdle babies from knowing we exist. And deciding for some reason that the existence of LGBT people is inherently hyper-sexual.
Cynthia Lummis
FRC Scorecard 82
HRC Score: 13
Roger Marshall
FRC 2020 Endorsement
FRC Scorecard 100
No on RFMA
HRC Scores: 0, 0, 0
Wants warnings on TV shows with lgbt people so parents can protect their poor widdle babies from knowing we exist. And deciding for some reason that the existence of LGBT people is inherently hyper-sexual.
Jerry Moran
FRC 2022 Endorsement
FRC Scorecard 88
No on RFMA
No on ENDA
HRC Scores: 5, 0, 0
Voted against Franken “don’t discriminate in schools” amendment.
Wants warnings on TV shows with lgbt people so parents can protect their poor widdle babies from knowing we exist. And deciding for some reason that the existence of LGBT people is inherently hyper-sexual.
Markwayne Mullin
FRC Scorecard from when he was a Rep. 100
No on RFMA
HRC scores: 6, 0, 0
Signed onto a brief in Obergefell urging SCOTUS not to recognize gay marriage.
Voted againt the Violence Against Women Act ‘cuz he doesn’t want non-discrimination language to include LGBT people.
Lisa Murkowski
FRC Scorecard 38
HRC Scores: 55, 3, 54
Rand Paul
FRC Scorecard 100
No on RFMA
No on ENDA
HRC Scores: 5, 8, 0
Voted against Franken “don’t discriminate in schools” amendment.
Rand criticized Obergefell and suggested the right thing to do is stop having legal marriage at all.
Did the “but genital muilation” to trans affirming care whilst not acknowledging cosmetic intersex and cosmetic circumcision surgeries, almost as if he only cares when it can be used against trans people.
Pete Ricketts
Didn’t want a school lunches to have non-discrimination against LGBT people or to interpret Title IX protections to extend to queer people.
Fought for Nebraska’s gay marriage ban.
Said he “disagrees” with his sister being gay.
Jim Risch
FRC 2020 Endorsement
FRC Scorecard 100
No on RFMA
No on ENDA
HRC Scores: 5, 0, 0
Signed onto a brief arguing for religious discrimination in adoption in Fulton.
Voted against Franken “don’t discriminate in schools” amendment.
Mitt Romney
FRC Scorecard 53
HRC Scores: 31, 7
He might be fine with gay marriage now, but he’s not fine with the Equality Act, so we can get married, but we also have to be open to discrimination.
Mike Rounds
FRC 2020 Endorsement
FRC Scorecard 94
No on RFMA
HRC Scores: 6, 0, 0
Voted against Franken “don’t discriminate in schools” amendment.
Marco Rubio
FRC 2022 Endorsement
FRC Scorecard 100
No on RFMA
No on ENDA
HRC Scores: 0, 0, 0
Said he wants Obergefell overturned.
Eric Schmitt
Argued against Bostock.
Filed a lawsuit against a directive that school meal programs can’t discriminate against LGBT people.
Rick Scott
FRC Scorecard 100
No on RFMA
HRC Scores: 0, 0
Signed onto the other Scott’s bill to force schools to out trans kids.
Wants adoption agencies to be able to discriminate without impunity.
Denies the existence of trans people, wants gender affirming care for minors banned, wants trans women barred from sports, and does not want the government to able to take data or orientation and gender identity.
Religion is a great excuse to discriminate.
Tim Scott
FRC 2022 Endorsement
FRC Scorecard 100
No on RFMA
No on ENDA
HRC Scores: 0, 0, 0
Signed onto a brief in Obergefell urging SCOTUS not to recognize gay marriage.
Signed onto a brief arguing for religious discrimination in adoption in Fulton.
Voted against Franken “don’t discriminate in schools” amendment.
Wants a federal law forcing schools to out trans kids.
Dan Sullivan
FRC 2020 Endorsement
FRC Scorecard 82
HRC Scores: 14, 0, 0
Voted against Franken “don’t discriminate in schools” amendment.
Doesn’t like Obergefell but doesn’t seem to want to fight it.
Thom Tillis
FRC 2020 Endorsement
FRC Scorecard 76
HRC Scores: 20, 0, 0
Voted against Franken “don’t discriminate in schools” amendment.
Seems to be in a “ay, if Obergefell gets overturned, it’s cool if some places discriminate and others don’t, can’t we all get along?” thing which is I guess something. An evolution?
Tommy Tuberville
FRC 2020 Endorsement
FRC Scorecard 94
No on RFMA
HRC Scores: 0, 0
Tried to use COVID to discriminate against trans kids in sports.
J.D. Vance
Called people opposed to Don’t Say Gay Bills groomers, implying that we’re pedophiles.
In a deleted tweet, he attacked Bostock because apparently queer people should be discriminated against.
Roger Wicker
FRC 2018 Endorsement
FRC Scorecard 88
No on RFMA
No on ENDA
HRC Scores: 5, 0, 0
Signed onto a brief arguing for religious discrimination in adoption in Fulton.
Voted against Franken “don’t discriminate in schools” amendment.
Made a statement against gay marriage.
Todd Young
FRC Scorecard 65
HRC Scores: 19, 0, 0
Some people I didn’t go into depth on because this is exhausting. Reading through their statements, going through random articles to get snippets of statements, following dead links, all to read homophobic statements over and over again. That isn’t to say they’re all like that. There are GOP senators who have stated support for queer people, our marriages, and non-discrimination laws and interpretations that protect us. But there aren’t many.
Current GOP Governors
Okay, there are the senators. Sure, federal law is important, but what about those all important state laws? So. Let’s talk governors. Jesus Christ.
Kay Ivey (Alabama)
Used biological essentialism as the groundwork for her tranphobia when banning affirming care for trans kids. Doesn’t want trans kids using bathrooms. And signed her own Don’t Say Gay law for K-5. Assumedly, she’ll want to take after DeSantis and expand it.
Mike Dunleavy (Alaska)
Alaska has this commission that investigates discrimination claims. After Bostock, they looked into discrimination against LGBT people. Well, Dunleavy rolled that back.
Doesn’t want trans kids using bathrooms and announced a bill forcing the outing or trans kids and anyone who joins a gay-straight alliance.
Oh, that bill? He wants trans people to be left out of lessons and conversation unless a parents signs some sort of permission slip. A Don’t Say Trans bill.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders (Arkansas)
Wants bills banning trans kids from using the bathroom.
Wants to label all drag as erotic adult entertainment, because drag queens reading to kids is the downfall of society or something. More accurately, a man in a dress makes Sarah feel icky and we have to protect Sarah’s feelings from getting icky.
Oh, she was vehemently anti-gay marriage.
And she did the “but muh military readiness and trans people make it hard to fight,” without evidence.
Brian Kemp (Georgia)
Kemp signed that stupid fucking gender affirming care ban that allows for cosmetic surgery on intersex kids.
Is against gay marriage and thinks SCOTUS will have to hear and maybe overturn Obergefell.
Said he’d sign a bill letting religious people discriminate against LGBT people.
Brad Little (Idaho)
An anti-trans kids in bathrooms sort of dude.
Signed a gender affirming care ban.
Also signed a bill critics say will force schools to out kids.
He told the state health department to stop sponsoring Boise Pride.
Signed a letter that correctly interpreting sex discrimination to include sexual orientation and gender identity is a danger to the poor girls. If we don’t discriminate against the gays, what will happen to the girls?
Eric Holcomb (Indiana)
Signed an an anti-gender affirming care ban that also would force trans kids to detransition which does not take into account best practices and medical safety.
He said it’s fine for the state not to itself include non-discrimination for LGBT people because localities can do that, so if some want to discriminate and some don’t, that’s up to them. It’s a really principled stance of “I guess blatant bigotry is okay, can’t the gays just let people hate them and enshrine that in law?”
Kim Reynolds (Iowa)
She said she’ll sign Iowa’s own Don’t Say Gay law. Oh, and also force schools to out trans kids.
She signed a gender affirming care ban.
Oh, trans kids can’t use bathrooms.
Tate Reeves (Mississippi)
He signed a gender affirming care ban while also calling the concept of being trans a pseudoscience, implying it’s evil to be trans and affirm people who are.
Before he was governor, he threw his support behind a bill that would allow people to use religion to discriminate against gay people, including letting clerks not issue licenses, adoption agencies saying no, and letting businesses refuse goods and services.
Mike Parson (Missouri)
Despite not wanting to support discrimination against us, Parson does think we’re morally wrong and doomed to hell because he is personally a sincere homophobe.
He removed a LGBT history exhibit that was hosted at museum inside their capitol building. Supposedly it didn’t follow proper procedure, but, according to an article in the Missouri Independent, that supposed procedure has not been an issue or been followed for over two decades, making this a clear “we just wanted an excuse to get rid of the gay display.”
Greg Gianforte (Montana)
Signed a bill to let people use religion as an excuse to discriminate against LGBT people.
He used to donate significantly to anti-LGBT hate groups Family Research Council, Alliance Defending Freedom, and Focus on the Family. He fought against a local nondiscrimination ordinance before being governor because he wants businesses to be able to discriminate.
Jim Pillen (Nebraska)
Tweeted that he hates gender affirming care, wants to block it, rejects data on mental health, and implies that being trans is an ideology and an evil one at that.
He’s against trans kids using the bathroom.
Opposes the Equality Act and any nondiscrimination ordinances, wants religious people to be able to discriminate. And he hates trans women.
He wants schools to teach Christianity and ban sex ed, calling it grooming, and given his views on discrimination, he probably wants kids taught that being gay is wrong and gay people are pedophiles.
Chris Sununu (New Hampshire)
This may be a shock. But it seems… like maybe there’s hope here.
He signed a Conversion torture ban, so thank you.
Said he would veto a Don’t Say Gay bill
Doug Burgum (North Dakota)
Signed a ban on gender affirming care.
He signed a bill letting student groups discriminate if they feel like it.
Though it seems like he vetoed a measure calling gay people unhealthy and destructive and another one that would require schools to be “pronoun police” against trans kids.
Mike DeWine (Ohio)
DeWine did sign an executive order that state employees can’t be discriminated against for being LGBT, so that’s good.
But he also was key opposition in Obergefell.
And he said he didn’t want actual nondiscrimination law to include LGBT people. So it’s okay in an executive order only binding to state employees, but not across the state for all LGBT people in a move that can’t be changed at a governor’s whim.
Kevin Stitt (Oklahoma)
He wants gender affirming care banned.
Henry McMaster (South Carolina)
He’s against gay marriage and said he’d defend a ban on it.
He signed a “yeah, let healthcare professionals use religion to discriminate if they want, who cares, fuck the queers,” sort of bill.
Oh hey, remember how Trump gave an exemption to non-discrimination policies to South Carolina so that federal funds can go to adoption agencies that discriminate against LGBT people? That was requested by McMaster’s administration.
Kristi Noem (South Dakota)
She heard Biden wanted to do a nondiscrimination with the USDA and said, “I’ll sue! We want to discriminate!”
Gender affirming care ban.
After banning transwomen and trans girls from sports, Noem was asked about reported anxiety and depression rates amongst LGBT kids in South Dakota. Her response, “I don’t know.” Now, I don’t want to assume any sort of knowledge for anyone, but I don’t think the Governor is an idiot and as such, I sincerely believe she does know and cannot admit it because to admit it is to deal with the shame that comes from being bigoted. Mental health concerns amongst the LGBT population are increased, stoked, and sometimes wholeheartedly birthed from lack of affirmation, from bullying, from having their existence be a political conversation that adults debate and talk about how they are wrong and evil and confused and shouldn’t be who they are. That is why, Governor. But you know that. You simply can’t admit it, because to admit it is to admit the role you have played in doling out that harm.
Bill Lee (Tennessee)
Remember the former drag queen who passed a drag ban? That’s Bill Lee.
He rejected federal funds to fight HIV. Now, besides being a dick move, in combination with the general anti-LGBT sentiment, it’s very likely that his prejudices played a part in this rejection.
He signed a bill forcing schools to warn parents of any lessons or materials that might mention we queers and let them opt out. So we can be censored out of life.
He banned gender affirming care and those who were recieving it beforehand can only be on it unti Aprill 2024, effectively forcing detransition after that.
Greg Abbott (Texas)
Abbott wants citizens to turn in parents who affirm their trans kids. If you affirm your child, you are guilty of child abuse in his mind.
Told the Social Work Board to get rid of nondiscrimination protections for LGBT people. Oh, and for disabled people. Because why not through eugenics in your hatred for queer people.
After Obergefell, he flipped out and got mad because he hates gay people having rights.
He suggested he wants a Don’t Say Trans law.
He signed a bill letting people use religion as an excuse to discriminate in regards to adoption and foster care.
Oh. And it prohibits Texas from terminating contracts with conversion torturers just because they did a little conversion torture on kids.
Spencer Cox (Utah)
Signed a conversion therapy ban. Thank you.
Oh, but he banned gender affirming care. Because trans youth don’t matter as much to him.
Phil Scott (Vermont)
For all I can see after my brief Googling, Scott seems to be another one of those actual conservative allies. He also calls out the hatred from his own party. Thank you, Governor.
Glenn Youngkin (Virginia)
Trans kids can’t use the bathroom. They have to file paperwork to change pronouns. And schools have to out children. That’s what his administration did.
He’s against gay marriage because he’s personally homophobic and he wants you to know that it’s okay, it’s just his personal belief that we shouldn’t have rights, not that he’ll do anything about it. He’s just personally a bigot. That’s okay, right? No.
He’s portrayed trans people as dangerous predators.
Jim Justice (West Virginia)
He signed a bill banning gender affirming care.
He signed a “yasss religion, use that to discriminate against people, yasss”, a bill whose authors rejected a “don’t use this to discriminate” amendment, just in case you thought it was actually about religion and not harming queer people.
Mark Gordon (Wyoming)
Gordon is resistant to actually enshrining anti-discrimination laws in actual law. He vaguely falls on Bostock and a belief that no one should be discriminated against. Which, sure, agreed, but an unwillingness to codify that gives away the game. It says to me he doesn’t want LGBT anti-discrimination laws actually written out in his state, because he wants the potential to discriminate to remain.
Now, with those governors, there are some who are decent or even good on LGBT rights. Looking at them, and their desire to protect the children, I have to ask: which of those states ban conversion torture? 4.
Which of them allow, in some form, child marriage?
Wyoming. 16 and up for marriage. Oh, if you’re emancipated, you don’t have any barriers preventing you from getting married, it seems, to anyone 16 or up. Pedophiles only need to get their targets emancipated! And guess what? They RAISED it to 16. Signed by Governor Gordon.
Guess who upped it to 16 in the year of 2023? Good job Governor Justice and West Virginia! The Republicans didn’t want this but they compromised. The gays are wrong but the pedophiles are good! Now if the parents agree, 16 year olds can marry anyone up to the age of 20, which is a lot better than it could be, but one would think maybe that exemption should only be in case of emancipation if you’re going to have one at all. Maybe! Maybe! Minors shouldn’t be getting married and especially not to adults. Woo!
Hi Virginia. Apparently, maybe the infor I found is wrong, but apparently once you hit 16, you can marry anyone you want! No issue! That 43 year-old predator who definitely loves you and thinks your mature for your age, sure, maybe he’s grooming or had been grooming you, but why don’t you go get married? Just don’t be trans. That would be child abuse.
Hi, Utah! I appreciate that you have some more guardrails along the way. I’m so glad a 16 year-old can marry a 23 year-old! A college graduate! That’s very helpful. What’s that? A minor getting married for a second time doesn’t have to jump through all of those hoops? Wow, that doesn’t sound fucked up at all.
Texas, our great defenders of children who endorse conversion torture, oh how protected be the emancipated 16-year-olds who may marry and adult they fancy. Surely, that’s not a law ripe for abuse by pedophiles. No, it’s the gays who are groomers, not those adults who want to marry a child.
Tennessee! You’re so close to getting it. Just bump it up one more year, and you’ll be rid of child marriage. Good luck! Though I guess good on you for enforcing a small age gap!
South Dakota, where Noem doesn’t know why the kids are depressed. Might as well let the parents ship them off at 16 to get married! To whoever! Protect them from being trans! Let them ravished by pedophiles. Good job.
Luckily for South Dakota, South Carolina is the exact same way! Good job, Governor McMaster. You sure are protecting the children.
Oklahoma, with its decent Governor, apparently says if the parents are okay with it, 16-year-olds can marry whoever. If the courts are happy with it, any child can get married. That’s not an avenue potentially ripe for abuse, bribes, and quid pro quos.
Ohio, at least it’s only 17-21. Just bump that minimum up one year. You’re so close.
North Dakota - can’t have gender affirming care, but sure can have parents shipping their 16-year-olds to get married to whoever!
New Hampshire, when a parent and a judge love each other very much, they can let 16 year olds get married to people who definitely aren’t pedophiles despite wanting to marry a minor.
Nebraska - 17 and up with parental consent. Just one year. One. Fix it.
Montana. Oh, Montana. If your parents say so and you go get counseling, two sessions at least, where surely they won’t ever be a counselor in the pockets of your parents or spouse, and definitely won’t ever push in that direction, you can marry the pedophile of your choice!
You know, Missouri, I’m not a fan of you having child marriages at all, but saying it has to be between 16-21 is at least better than some of your friends. Oh, and parental consent.
Mississippi. They said, “How can we make our child marriage provision even worse? Let’s make it sexist!” 17 year old boys and 15 year old girls can marry whoever with parental consent. Anyone younger can too, but they have to get judges to approve. Yeah. That makes it so good. Tell girls that they’re of marrying age at 15. That surely won’t cause damage to their psyches or to generalized sexism.
Iowa - the land where if parents give the okay, kids of 16 can marry whoever.
Indiana - 16-20 or 17-21 and approval of a judge. That’s better than a lot of places. Hopefully your judges are very strict about when they allow that. Perhaps only in cases of emancipation? Hm.
Idaho, the most reasonable of the ones listed, sticks a 3 year age gap on marrying 16 or 17 year old children.
My current state of Georgia - you can marry at 17. If you’re emancipated, with a small age gap, and after completing some sort of I guess educational course thing. So far the most understandable allowance.
Hey, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, guess what a 17 year old is? A child! Who can get married in your state with parental consent. Here’s another question! What do you call an adult who wants to marry a child? A pedophile! Good job, Sarah.
Alaska - the 3 year gap is back, 16 and 17, parent and court consent. It’s something.
And finally, Alabama. Parents can give their age 16 kids to whoever. It’s fine.
The majority of states allow some form of child marriage. I focused on these ones because Republicans talk about how they’re the ones who are concerned with protecting children. So there, Governors. Call on your legislatures and demand answers and accountability and change in legislation. Or maybe admit you don’t care about kids. Because if you did, you would ban conversion therapy. You would ban child marriage. You would look at the data and listen to medical experts in concern to affirmation both in medical care and in general acceptance. Forcing LGBT kids out of society and out of conversation does not make them not gay. It makes them alone. And scared. And hurt.
“But what about me?”
I think some of the defense of the GOP and the handwaving away of homophobia is because, like my loved one I mentioned at the start, the conservatives issuing the denials are not themselves homophobic. Or, at least, they say they aren’t. And you know what, I’ll believe you. You’re against conversion torture. You’re against discrimination. You’re pro marriage equality. You don’t believe in using religion as an excuse to be bigoted. You don’t think existing as an LGBT+ person is wrong. You don’t think our existences are inherently inappropriate. You yourself are not a bigot. That’s the truth you hold in your heart.
Okay. Why do you let party be that way then?
Why do you defend it against accusations of bigotry when the platforms and elected officials are against queer rights?
Because you’re not a bigot. And the people you know personally who are also conservatives aren’t really bigots.
And those accusations feel like attacks, don’t they? Like a denial of your reality.
Yet you vote for them.
You let them craft policies that harm us in your name.
So. Here’s the thing.
It doesn’t matter.
Votes for people dedicated to the overturn of queer rights legitimizes those people. It empowers their bigotry. It gives them the power to harm us.
If you are a conservative who is not a homophobe, then you need to get your party in line. You need to object to their policies. You need to vote in primaries against bigots. You need to protest. You need to call them. You need to tell them that they are wrong.
And you have to justify the harm they do to us. Because it is, by extension, harm that you do to us.
If you feel there is no other option because you can’t vote for liberal policies, then you need to toughen up. You need to look at the candidates on your side. And you need to run for office. Challenge them in primaries. Win local elections. Get power in your county party. State. National. Push for change and condemn and censur every action and politician that attacks the LGBT community.
The evidence is overwhelming. The GOP is homophobic. It is transphobic. It wishes to cause harm. It makes that explicit in its platforms and across the majority of its elected members on the national level.
To continue to vote for it and condone its policies is to surrender any personal claim away from bigotry.
To admit the GOP is bigoted is painful for you. It’s the same reason bigots rarely accept the labels of racist or homophobe. Because to hate and advocate against the rights of others is shameful. And we know this. And to admit the GOP is bigoted is to admit that you have participated in causing harm. And the shame that admission would bring terrifies you. You do not want to be the villain. None of us do.
Thus you have to defend the harm. You have to. It’s the only way to shut off the guilt. You deny it. You push away the claims. You roll your eyes. You say that no one really cares that much about taking away our rights. But that’s not true. The party is invested in it, regardless of what you personally believe.
We all do harm. All of us. We go about life damaging each other. And that knowledge can be crippling. I understand. Admitting that harm feels like labeling ourselves as a bad person. That does not excuse us. We apologize. We try to do better. We build a better world. We have to plant more than we destroy, but we can only do that if we’re willing to recognize at least some of the damage we inflict.
You have two options. Stop voting for people who harm us. Or tell the LGBT people in your life that the harm you inflict on them is okay with you, and you’ll likely never see us again.
In reading through all of these statements and court documents and policy pages, there is so much concern that homophobes, especially religious homophobes, might be labelled bigots and have people not respect their beliefs. So let me help with those fears. A religious belief that marriage is only between a man and a woman is bigoted. A belief that being LGBT is immoral is bigoted. A belief that all queer people should be celibate is bigoted. I do not respect those beliefs because they are shameful, bigoted, cruel beliefs used to inflict harm. I do not care about your god. If He is a homophobe, then I will call Him shameful. Religion does not suddenly make beliefs good or respectable. There are people who are racist in the name of religion. People who are sexist in the name of religion. People who are violent and cruel in the name of religion. And yes, there are purely secular people who do all the same. All of them hold horrid beliefs that are shameful.
Conclusion
Now. What was the point in all this? Most on the left already know about the bigotry of the GOP and don’t need details. Those on the right who refuse to see and accept it may well continue to deny it. They might not believe homophobia and transphobia are even concepts. So why make this? Why spend all this time reading these documents and writing this out and recording it?
On some level, at this point, I don’t know. I figured out my sexuality sometime between 2010 and 2012. I was in high school when Obergefell was decided. When I was beginning to understand my sexuality, I went Googling around, and I read a lot of articles about states voting on gay rights. I would go to the comments, and I would read threads of people complaining that gay men are pedophiles. That gay marriage is evil. I read pages of material presenting theories on why queer people exist. I didn’t know what Social Contagion Theory was, but I consumed a decent amount. It was my father’s fault. It was my mother’s fault. Gay people recruit children. But I didn’t know any gay people. I never talked to any. So then. Those pages suggested I was assaulted. I wondered. I searched my memories. Maybe I blocked it out. Suddenly I had the bubbling of a trauma that did not exist, and a future prescribed for me where, according to those same people, I could only continue to harm others. I have, at some point or other, thought about dying every year since I was 13. Growing up in a small town in Kentucky, I heard often, not at home, about how gross and wrong the gays are. When Obergefell happened, people I knew talked about how the world was ending. People I knew from back then have gone on to blame mass shootings on allowing gay people to live our lives out of the closet. But these people, I was told, weren’t homophobic. They were sincere. I didn’t know what to do with that pain.
When my politics were forming, I had no choice but to become a Democrat which has led me on the road to being what I think I would describe as a social democrat. I may well have gotten this way eventually no matter what, but of the two parties, both filled, at the time, with horrid, demeaning language, only one had members actively voting for and advocating for my rights and my dignity as a human person. The GOP is not even remotely an option, and it never has been for me.
I will fight and argue against conservative policies no matter what. But we need to get to a point where these bigotries are no longer pretended to have a good place in debate. I will not debate my rights with you. I will defeat you. Because those against human rights will lose. That’s the truth. And maybe this collection will make one person realize that yes, actually, the party they support is homophobic. It harms people. Maybe they’ll vow to change it or maybe they’ll understand that letter from the start, and maybe they’ll pledge to no longer vote for the GOP because they cannot bare to harm any longer, not now they know.
Go and run for office everyone. Fill local positions. Don’t let anyone run unopposed.
Protest. Relentlessly.
Good luck.
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