Standing firmly upon the most anti-LGBT platform in U.S. history, presidential candidate Donald Trump and running mate Mike Pence, if elected, pose a major threat to not only the strides towards equality the LGBT community has made over the past few years (let alone decades) but also to its very health and well being.
“From a public health standpoint, a Trump-Pence administration isn’t looking good for the health of LGBT Americans, and the impact could have far-reaching and devastating consequences,” writes Dwayne A. Steward in an August 15 Advocate article. Steward is the manager of Community Engagement and Prevention at the Boston-based Fenway Health.
Writes Steward:
[T]his year the decision between one candidate or the other more accurately represents choosing between sickness and health. Voting for the Republican Party, complete with its historically anti-LGBT platform and unhinged but consistently hateful candidate, equals a vote against advancing the well-being of this country’s LGBT citizens. And it’s no secret that we are a community already facing extensive barriers to health and wellness services, even under a president that has been lauded as the staunchest LGBT ally ever to occupy the White House.”
Aside from the GOP’s heavily homophobic platform, there’s also the poisonous professional history of Trump’s running mate:
The Republican Party’s nominee for vice president is arguably best known on the national stage for his unapologetic support for anti-LGBT policies. In March 2015, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence proudly signed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act into law, which opponents said gave businesses and individuals in the state a “license to discriminate” against LGBT people. Although Pence signed a “fix” to the bill a month later, the damage was already done, and his state took a $60 million hit from the pronounced backlash.
Pence has a long record of opposing basic dignity for LGBT people, including his outspoken disappointment over the Supreme Court’s landmark 2015 ruling that brought marriage equality to all 50 states. Predictably, Pence fell in line with other Republicans strongly criticizing guidance that came out of President Obama’s administration this year recommending that public schools allow all students to use restrooms consistent with their gender identity. Pence openly opposed the repeal of the military’s ban on open service by gay, lesbian, and bisexual Americans known as “don’t ask, don’t tell.”
Then there’s conversion therapy:
The American Psychological Association and other leading health organizations have denounced the practice. President Obama himself, and other high-ranking officials in his administration, have called for the dangerous practice to be illegal for use on minors anywhere in the U.S. Five states and the District of Columbia currently ban use of the practice on minors, and a pending federal law would declare the practice fraudulent under Federal Trade Commission guidelines. Any support for this inhumane, ineffective practice — no matter how veiled — is an immediate red flag that such supporters have no interest in preserving the health and survival of LGBT Americans.
And the so-called “bathroom bills,” also known as basic public accommodations civil rights:
Speaking of thinly veiled animus, the GOP’s official backing of transphobic “bathroom bills” further demonizes an already marginalized community. Amid the unabated and escalating deadly violence against transgender people — especially black transgender women — and persistently high rates of unemployment and discrimination in health care, housing, and employment, the GOP’s decision to focus on keeping transgender people out of restrooms is beyond cruel. The patently false scare tactics that warn about the dangers of “men” in women’s bathrooms not only erase of the lived reality of transgender people, but also actively contribute to a culture that violently represses transgender individuals.
Finally (though the list goes on), writes Steward, there’s marriage equality and all that stands for:
[T]he GOP’s continued push to overturn last year’s Supreme Court decision embracing legal same-sex marriage and the insistence that marriage equality will bring about the apocalypse is nothing short of antiquated. In fact, there’s evidence that marriage equality actually contributes to better health outcomes for LGBT people. A 2012 Massachusetts study published in the American Journal of Public Health examined the medical records of more than 1,200 gay and bisexual men, and found that medical visits in the state increased, while costs of health care dropped for the covered partner after same-sex marriage became legal.
“Make no mistake,” Steward points out, “despite Paypal founder and out gay billionaire Peter Theil addressing the [GOP convention] crowd, and Trump himself awkwardly tripping over our acronym in his acceptance speech “promising” to protect the LGBT community at the Republican convention, doesn’t portend progress by the Republican Party like many pundits have suggested. The GOP is still light-years away from taking that leap over the rainbow towards ally status.”
