Between an endless bombardment of T.V. ads, political texts, and fundraising emails, there’s no denying it — the election is here, and it’s one that many say could determine the future of our democracy.
For members of marginalized groups, politics is also personal. GOP politicians are targeting members of the LGBTQ+ community in advertisements, speeches, and legislation, both in the Pittsburgh region and beyond, and the violent increase in anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric shows little signs of slowing as we quickly approach November.
As of Aug. 30, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is tracking 527 anti-LGBT bills in the U.S. Five of these bills are in Pennsylvania and include measures to restrict gender-affirming care for minors, prohibit schools from teaching about gender and sexuality, and bar transgender athletes from competing on sports teams, among other things.
The same is true across the country.
In Mississippi, GOP legislators passed a bill that prohibits folks from using restrooms in public buildings that don’t correspond to their biological sex. In South Carolina, a bill was passed that requires public school teachers to “out” students to their parents or guardians. West Virginia legislation prevents trans folks from updating their birth certificates, and in Ohio, a bill that would classify drag shows as “obscene” has advanced in the House.
For some, it’s a chilling hint at the kind of maelstrom November’s presidential election could bring.
“I have seen more and more politically-driven anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric, and it scares me,” says Michael Murphy, a transgender man who lives in Pittsburgh’s East End. He cited the University of Pittsburgh’s decision to host the famously anti-queer commentator Michael Knowles last year at the request of the university’s chapter of Young Republicans. Murphy, who watched a livestream of the event on YouTube after the fact, recalls that it was framed as a “debate” on transgender rights and well-attended by people who did not balk at Knowes’ assertions that trans folks should be targeted.
“Knowles was asked what should happen to transgender adults who had been through conversation therapy but would not desist from identifying as trans. After trying to avoid the question, he ultimately said he felt they should be locked up, away from the rest of society,” he explains. “The energy in the room did not seem to change at all. The only person who reacted at all was Knowles’ opponent, who tepidly expressed that that might be going too far. No one else seemed to disagree. I felt fear in that moment, deep in the pit of my stomach.”
Fear has been a common reaction within the queer community and those who support it, especially following the release of a 922-page behemoth document called Project 2025. Former Trump administration officials put out Project 2025 in partnership with The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think-tank. It outlines a framework for how to implement extremist, far-right agendas when the next GOP candidate takes presidential office.
SisTers Pgh, a Black—and trans-led nonprofit that provides resources, education, and support for the transgender community in southwestern Pennsylvania, released a memo in early August regarding the implications of Project 2025. The organization wrote that it felt the need to “inform folks on how this heinous document could impact trans people if a Trump administration gets another chance in the White House.”
“Many goals outlined in Project 2025 aim to eradicate TLGBQIA+ people from existence. For example, it equates pornography with gender diversity and favors heterosexual families by granting government funding to agencies ‘who affirm that marriage is between not just any two adults, but one man and one unrelated woman,’” the statement read.
“Regardless of how you feel about the current state of politics, this is something every Trans person in the country needs to keep in mind as we head to the polls this November,” SisTers’ statement continued. “Policy ideas ripple outward, spreading to school boards and churches and state legislatures. We must fight back against this violent rhetoric and fight for legislators who refuse to cower to bigotry and hatred.”
SisTers’ press release also mentioned Trump’s own document, Agenda 47, which outlines the former president’s plans for the country if he is re-elected in November. Much like Project 2025, the manifesto specifically targets marginalized groups and attacks things like climate action and immigration. It calls for the end of gender-affirming care for minors and would push institutions to end all programs that promote or affirm transgender identity at any age. Under this guidance, any school or program that teaches about critical race theory or gender identity would lose its federal funding.
“Trump has attempted to distance himself from Project 2025, but his own Agenda 47 lays out policies, including passing legislation establishing that male and female are the only genders recognized by the U.S. and are assigned at birth,” SisTers said in the statement.
Sue Kerr of the “Pittsburgh Lesbian Correspondents” blog also stresses the dangers and implications of a document that seems to intend a real restructuring of the government’s executive branch by far-right radicals.
“It is really the eradication of people who aren’t like them. I know people think that’s too extreme, but I don’t,” she says. “Eradicating the trans community is absolutely part of their agenda, and anyone who thinks otherwise is just really fooling themselves.”
With so much on the line, folks who provide medical care for LGBTQ+ patients are bracing for the worst.
“Here we are in 2024, and people are most definitely nervous. Trump has come right out and said that one of his top priorities will be a sweeping federal rollback of transgender rights,” says Kim Henry, clinical director of a local outpatient behavioral health agency.
“The community is well aware of Project 2025 and what it says. And we’re hearing stories of people trying to fast-track their medical needs in case those benefits get taken away,” Henry continues.
She says she started working at the agency in 2016, shortly after Trump was elected. She recalls clients coming to their therapy sessions in tears.
“Despite [Trump] saying that he was a ‘friend’ to the LGBTQ+ community, he spent a lot of time targeting the trans community. To our clients, if you were trans, you had a target on your back,” she says.
In that regard, little has changed since 2016. Similar rhetoric has emerged in recent years, led in large part by conservative super PACs. In 2022, anti-transgender ads ran on at least seven local radio stations. They targeted politicians who affirmed or supported LGBTQ+ rights and demonized transgender children. QBurgh reported on the ads, which ran on local 96.1 Kiss, WAMO 107.3, 102.5 WDVE, WISH 99.7, the X 105.9, Q 92.9, Y108, and KDKA Radio. The 60-second blurb began with, “Not long ago, everyone knew that you’re either born a boy or a girl. Not anymore.” It also claimed that Joe Biden and his supporters wanted to force doctors to prescribe “dangerous drugs” to children and that they “want to make it easier for boys to take estrogen to appear more feminine. They want to make it easier for girls to take testosterone, so they grow facial hair.”
Some folks reported hearing the ads while in their cars or in Ubers, and being unable to turn it off before their children heard it, too.
The community rallied. Trans Younitng and the organizers of Pittsburgh Pride quickly called on the radio stations to remove the advertisements or be banned from participating in Pittsburgh Pride events that year. All but one station ultimately removed them.
But this year, anti-LGBTQ+ ads have returned, sponsored again by pro-Trump Super PACs. Radio ads attacked the Biden-Harris administration for classifying transgender rights as civil rights. On television, ads for multiple candidates in the West Virginia gubernatorial race attacked drag shows and transgender identity.
A recent ad run by Black Bear PAC argued that when the candidate Chris Miller (also a Republican) was on the board of a state university, he “looked the other way as pro-transgender events happened on his watch.” It shows a man dressed in feminine clothing, makeup, and a blonde wig, and says, “Chris Miller protected they/them, not us.”
“Being that we’re in a swing state, it seems that everywhere you turn, you’re smacked in the face with an ad on TV, while listening to the radio, on social media, while driving down the Parkway,” Henry says. “You can’t escape it, and that can take its toll on your mental health, especially when you feel like the ads are aimed at you.”
Henry added that “since there’s no federal legislation, the community could easily face more discrimination with employment, housing, education, health care, and various federal government programs.”
“Half of our clients have medical assistance, so if there are changes made to that program, that may affect a lot of people on both the mental health and medical side,” she says. “And I expect that [Trump] will deliver on his vow to enact the policies that harm transgender rights.”
In many states, including Pennsylvania, those rights are not enshrined. Murphy says that, as a transgender person, he would like to see protections passed into law at the local, state, and federal levels.
“People who care about trans rights will need to turn out and elect candidates who support trans rights, and those candidates will need to follow through on their promises during their terms,” he says.
It’s a sentiment echoed by Kerr, who explains that Pennsylvania doesn’t have a statewide anti-discrimination law for LGBTQ+ people. She says that there’s an existing Defense of Marriage Act(DOMA) law in Pennsylvania that could mean the end of marriage equality in the commonwealth should the Supreme Court overturn the 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges decision, which cemented the right to same-sex marriage in the U.S.
Civil rights may not be the only thing put in a precarious position, depending on how the election unfolds. The possibility of another Trump presidency hangs heavy over the heads of queer folks, many of whom feel the outcome of this election could mean the difference between life and death.
“To be really blunt, if Donald Trump is re-elected, we’re going to be subjected to a level of tyranny in our nation that we have never experienced in our lifetime. Our lives will be in danger,” says Kerr, who tracks incidents of anti-LGBTQ+ violence resulting in death on her blog. “I can’t exaggerate how scared I would be as a person who is queer and disabled. I’d be very afraid.”
But for as much as fear features in the lead-up to this election, hope does, too.
Many queer folks recognize that Kamala Harris is not the perfect candidate, if such a thing even exists, seeing her as a moderate despite the GOP’s attempts to portray her as a radical leftist. Many view Harris as the candidate who can halt the so-called Trump Train in its tracks.
“Electing Kamala Harris as president isn’t going to create a wonderland of acceptance, but I think it will be a huge blow striking back,” Kerr says. “I have a lot of hope that the Harris-Waltz ticket is going to win. That’s our only real choice to stop Trump from being re-elected.”
And while so much is not certain about the future, there’s one thing that is: Queer people will never cease to exist.
“I’ll be here and I’ll be queer, facing 2025, however it ends up,” Murphy says. “My focus right now is on deepening my connections with my community and contributing where I can.”
