RNC calls for unity, but that rings hollow for some in the LGBTQ community

RNC calls for unity, but that rings hollow for some in the LGBTQ community

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(WASHINGTON) — After the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, unity was expected to be the hallmark of the Republican National Convention for the presidential nominee.

“I am running for president for all of America, not for half of America, because there is no victory in winning for half of America,” Trump said.

Richard Grenell, a gay man who is Trump’s former acting director of national intelligence, told the audience that Trump “doesn’t care if you’re gay or straight, black or brown or white, or what your gender is.”

But the message of unity rings hollow for some in the LGBTQ community, who say they have been repeatedly targeted by Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee and others on the national stage.

“It can be hard to stay hopeful when anti-LGBTQ sentiment hits town,” LGBTQ group Fair Wisconsin said in a post on X. It continued: “But Fair Wisconsin knows that sentiment isn’t who we are. The majority of Wisconsinites support LGBTQ+ rights, and with fair maps for the first time in over a decade, we’re hopeful about the possibility of turning the tide with anti-LGBTQ+ legislation.”

According to the ACLU, a record number of bills targeting the LGBTQ community have been introduced in state legislatures across the country, including bans on transgender shelters, restrictions on drag shows and more. More than 500 bills have been introduced nationwide in 2024.

Federal and local agencies have also expressed concern about increasing threats and incidents of violence against the community amid the rise in anti-LGBTQ rhetoric.

According to the CDC and the Williams Institute, this is because LGBTQ people, and transgender people in particular, face higher rates of violence, discrimination, and bullying.

Yet several RNC speakers, including Trump, have been openly critical of transgender and non-binary people throughout the convention.

LGBTQ Issues at the RNC
The LGBTQ community is a small demographic – less than 8% of the U.S. population, according to a Gallup poll – but was strongly represented in the platform of RNC candidates.

Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida said, referring to his vision for the country during the Trump administration, “We were richer, inflation was low and there were two genders.”

Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson protested transgender women and girls playing on women’s and girls’ sports teams, claiming Democrats were supporting the “indoctrination of our children,” prompting boos.

Trump also added that he would end transgender participation in sports, claiming that “men” played on women’s teams. Transgender participation in sports has also been a source of contention between states – with advocates arguing that trans women and girls have an advantage in sports, and critics arguing that they have no evidence to support such claims of a physiological advantage.

Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., accused Democrats of “teaching our children there are 57 genders” and “can’t even define what a woman is,” a sentiment shared by Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders and others.

This comes as Republican lawmakers across the country attempt to create legal definitions of “women” and “men,” often based on their reproductive systems — excluding intersex people.

Supporters say it promotes security, privacy and the accuracy of public data by defining gender using specific biological terms.

Critics argue that the restrictive definitions will lead to governments no longer legally recognizing transgender people, and will lead to discrimination and inaccurate identification practices.

Vance’s record
The announcement of JD Vance as Trump’s running mate was alarming to some LGBTQ activists, who say he has a strong anti-LGBTQ history.

At the RNC, Vance said the Republican Party “is committed to free speech and the open exchange of ideas.”

But Vance has said he would vote “no” on a bill to legalize gay marriage, and has spoken out against the collection of Census data on gender identity, arguing that it is unscientific to say that people can identify with a gender — defined by the CDC as “the cultural roles, behaviors, activities, and traits expected of people based on their sex — that does not match the sex assigned to them at birth.”

He also introduced the Passport Sanity Act, a bill to ban the “X” gender designation from U.S. passports, and the Protect Children’s Innocence Act, which would ban services for trans youth, including puberty blockers, hormone therapies and gender confirmation surgeries.

“LGBTQ Americans are taxpayers, family members, coworkers, classmates, neighbors and friends, and our concerns are the same as those of all Americans: our freedom to be ourselves and live in safety and dignity, the right to make private decisions about our health care, to read the books we choose, to marry the people we love, and not to be discriminated against because of who we are,” said Sarah Kate Ellis, president and CEO of the LGBTQ advocacy group GLAAD.

ABC News has reached out to Vance for comment on the criticism.

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