LGBTQ Allies Don't Vote Republican (or Opt-Out of Voting)

Project 2025, the election, and the side we choose

Photo by Stavrialena Gontzou on Unsplash

I’m willing to bet that most of my readers and followers see themselves as LGBTQ allies, that philosophically and intellectually we all agree that someone’s gender identity or sexual orientation or marriage has no bearing on their inherent worth.

We agree that queer people should have every human and civil right provided here, that sexuality should never be a barrier or penalty or cause for exclusion.

But while that is true, we may be better at aspiring to such allyship and advocacy than actually tangibly embodying it.

As we enter PRIDE month on this election year here in America, we do so while experiencing a renaissance of homophobia and transphobia: a relentless and unapologetically hateful attack on the queer community, most specifically on transgender human beings, a minority community within a minority community that has become the danger-du jour for the Conservative movement.

Fear is the engine this phobia runs on and that fear requires a target, a threat, an enemy. We know with the recent legislative assaults on the rights of women, that marriage equality, adoption rights for same-sex couples, spousal/partner health insurance, and gender-affirming care are all in similar jeopardy.

Many of you know about Project 2025: it is the immediate Conservative Christian agenda for America post-election in the event of a Republican victory. It is a document that if you have not already done so, I encourage you to read and post and share and talk about so that people understand the stakes of the coming election. It is something that transcends politics and impacts the human and civil rights of this nation and the diverse humanity of the planet.

I wanted to share a few excerpts from Project 2025 in light of PRIDE month to remind you of how much allyship and advocacy matter:

"The next conservative President must make the institutions of American civil society hard targets for woke culture warriors. This starts with deleting the terms sexual orientation and gender identity ("SOGI"), diversity, equity, and inclusion ("DEI"), gender, gender equality, gender equity, gender awareness, gender-sensitive, abortion, reproductive health, reproductive rights, and any other term used to deprive Americans of their First Amendment rights out of every federal rule, agency regulation, contract, grant, regulation, and piece of legislation that exists.”

This is a precise and clearly defined plan to eliminate LGBTQ representation, shut down conversation, and render the queer community invisible.

It goes on:

"Pornography, manifested today in the omnipresent propagation of transgender ideology and sexualization of children, for instance, is not a political Gordian knot inextricably binding up disparate claims about free speech, property rights, sexual liberation, and child welfare. It has no claim to First Amendment protection. Its purveyors are child predators and misogynistic exploiters of women. Their product is as addictive as any illicit drug and as psychologically destructive as any crime. Pornography should be outlawed. The people who produce and distribute it should be imprisoned. Educators and public librarians who purvey it should be classed as registered sex offenders. And telecommunications and technology firms that facilitate its spread should be shuttered."

In other words, Republicans will criminalize advocacy and allyship of any kind, jailing people, destroying their livelihoods, and shutting down organizations and businesses for even supporting the queer community.

These plans are about erasing LGBTQ people and penalizing those who support them.

Vice President Harris has said, “Being an ally can’t just be about nodding when someone says something we agree with—important as that is. It must also be about action. It’s our job to stand up for those who are not at the table when life-altering decisions are made.”

This election is the single greatest chance we have as allies and advocates and supporters of the queer community, to make sure they have a seat at this nation’s table and to unequivocally reject the incendiary phobia Republicans are trafficking in.

The aspiration to be allies and advocates and activists for justice is a beautiful one but we need the courage to act in such a way that we receive a bit of the turbulence the oppressed receive. We need to be willing to place ourselves between people who are simply trying to exist and the prejudice that would not allow them to.

It's time to stop with this "both parties are the same” nonsense and fight together for the common good.

False equivalencies are irresponsible and unhelpful.

Silencing yourself by not voting will do active harm to marginalized human beings.

Please read Project2025 in its entirety and choose what side you are on this November.