I used to think of the Heritage Foundation as a bog-standard right-wing think tank. Now that the Necrotic Toddler of the United States has given them the keys to the kingdom, they’re showing themselves to be complete white straight male supremacist monsters. Case in point, using Charlie Kirk’s murder to argue that somehow trans people are at fault (they’re not) and therefore we should treat trans as terrorist.
Quite aside from the hypocrisy (the right wing squeals like a stuck pig when anyone brings up how much right-wing terrorism is happening) they’re wrong. Republicans and the religious right have been consistently wrong about LGBTQ throughout this century (and before, for that matter).
“If gay marriage is legal, it will destroy straight marriage.” Nope.
“If gay marriage is legal, preaching and speaking out against gays will be banned.” Nope (but I get it. People who don’t believe in free speech assume everyone’s as ruthless as they are).
“If gay marriage is legal, churches will be forced to marry gay couples.” Nope.
“Gays are groomers.” No more than straight people.
“We have no hatred in our hearts for gays, we’re just disgusted by those freaks at Pride parades.” Turns out they hate gays who put on matching tuxes and have traditional weddings just as much.
“We think gay marriage should be decided by state legislatures, not courts.” And when state legislatures passed gay-marriage, they kept screaming.
Their arguments against trans people boil down to “We lost on regular gays, let’s recycle all our lies and try again!” It’s having more success but not, I think, as much as they’d hoped. However they still have the power to act on their hate and do tremendous damage.
Rather than despair, I’ll leave you with this Bluesky post from Jael Holzman: “i remain resolute in my confidence we will win and it will be because we stuck together. dooming and fatalism is not how any of us will get out of this mess. i’m saying this as a veteran climate journalist who is a trans woman. if i have more hope than you, think of what that says about your view.”
I really needed to hear that.
