I don't mean to sound jaded, but I bristle whenever I hear one of my LGBTQ folks say something like "It's 2025! I can't believe people say or believe (choose your anti-LGBTQ claim or slur) anymore. I thought we were over that."
As appealing as it is to dream of a world where certain ugly smears aren't believed or certain ugly slurs aren't said, that dream isn't ever going to be a reality. Hatred motivated by fear and ignorance will always be with us. It's never going away and nothing we can do or say will change that.
For example, this is what the bigots were saying about LGBTQ people - specifically gay men - in the 1980s:
Fast forward to 2025 and read this email which I received from anti-LGBTQ hate group the American Family Association:
The pro-homosexual, pro-transgender mafia won’t stop coming after America’s kids and grandkids.Ten years ago this month, the Obergefell Supreme Court decision unleashed a satanic breakout in the sexual war against America and Christianity.Five judicial tyrants in Washington, D.C., forced homosexual marriage on every square inch of America. The effect has been a national nightmare—and we can’t seem to wake up.The Obergefell decision led to the Bostock decision, which elevated the mental disorder of transgenderism to the status of a civil right. If you “discriminate” against a man who thinks he is a woman, radical lawyers and prosecutors can come after you!But the ultimate target has been children.The cultural explosion led to the spread of Drag Queen Story Hour . . . men in girls’ sports and bathrooms . . . the pharmaceutical and surgical sexual mutilation of children . . . and an epidemic of sex crimes.The nightmare is still happening. Yes, the Trump administration is pushing back. Praise God! But candidly, it won’t be enough without grassroots action.As I write this, schools near San Diego are zealously enforcing a California state law that mandates tampons in boys’ restrooms in every elementary school. The tampons in grade school boys’ bathrooms are required by the “Menstrual Equity for All Act of 2021.”Parents are crying out . . . to no avail. These could be your kids or grandkids! This insanity is damaging the minds of children as young as kindergarten, mentally molesting them.The larger goal is to hijack their bodies for sexual perversion by creating a culture with no sexual boundaries.In Texas, with five million students, a massive school district is calling a girl a “boy”—against the parents’ explicit desire.LGBTQ radicals won’t stop. They are spiritually driven. Plus, they have billions of dollars and influence in the media. Rogue judges in local, state, and federal courts favor their cause. And they have declared, “We want your children!”
Lawd! That's a big ole ball of crazy right there. A lot of this doesn't need refuting because:
A. It rightfully comes across as completely insane to folks with good sense.
B. The folks who would believe this madness obviously don't have good sense, so attempting to refute it for their benefit is a waste of time.
But there is one thing I would like to touch on because it's nagging the hell out of me.
Just when did the LGBTQ community get billions of dollars? AFA didn't say "thousands" or "millions" or even "one billion." According to the AFA, we've got BILLIONS and all devoted to "recruiting children." Well, that's not practical, particularly when I thought we are also jailing Christians and whatever else AFA and groups like it accuse us of doing.
My point is as much as we wish it were so, homophobia, transphobia, and all other types of hatred aren't going away. Hatred always changes by adapting to suit whatever fear or resentment is out there. AFA used to smear just gay men. Now it has widened its net of nuttiness to rope in trans people, while still claiming that our pursuit of equality is a conspiracy to snare children - a conspiracy it also claims involves courts and judges.
But while we can't make hatred go away, we can hinder it as much as we can by calling it out, not letting it stop us from getting our hearts desire, and in this case - laughing at the inanity it entails.
