2023-08-30 16:30:00
Washington/Ottawa. It is a special kind of travel warning because it comes from the big neighbor to the north. The Canadian government is urging gay, lesbian, transgender and other members of the nearly one million LGBTQ community to do more research before traveling to the United States. That means getting acquainted with where between Montana and Maryland, between California and Kentucky, the socio-political climate for sexual minorities could be unhealthy. Or even life-threatening.
With the action that Chrystia Freeland, Deputy Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, has now made public, the government in Ottawa is reacting to what the US human rights organization “Human Rights Campaign” (HRC) has just practiced for the very first time: she called the “Emergency” for LGBTQ people in America. The reason sounds shocking: “They want to make us invisible.”
The phenomenon can be documented with numbers: The civil rights organization ACLU has determined that in the current year over 500 bills have been introduced in the regional parliaments across America. They are directed against minorities who do not want to live according to the heterosexual norm. 75 laws have already come into force. Among the most targeted groups are transgender people. Two dozen states, mostly Republican-controlled, have banned teens seeking sex reassignment surgery from doing so under reputable medical direction.
In large parts of America, transgender youth, such as boys who have made the transition to girls, are banned from competing in athletics or swimming. “Distortion of competition” is the standard argument. Going to a toilet that does not correspond to the gender at birth is also prohibited in many places under penalty of prosecution.
Censorship in school lessons
Other laws, led by Florida under Governor and presidential candidate Ron DeSantis, aim to censor or eliminate LGBTQ issues in schools. DeSantis claims homosexuality or transgender issues are used to indoctrinate children. The “Florida Parental Rights in Education Act”, dubbed “Don’t Say Gay Law” on the street, prohibits teaching students up to the 3rd grade about sexual orientation and gender identity.
Shows featuring “drag queens” (men dressed up as women) have also been the target of legal activity or even criminalized in several places. Tennessee, Montana, South Carolina, Texas and North Dakota are among the most aggressive states, according to the ACLU. The White House under President Joe Biden regularly protests against this, but can hardly intervene in state legislation.
From the point of view of those affected, discrimination against the LGBTQ community stretches all the way to the mostly conservative Supreme Court in Washington. There, in June, the lawsuit filed by an evangelical web designer from Colorado was upheld by a 6-3 vote. She had refused to set up websites for marriages between gay couples.
Hate crimes against LGBTQ community
Discriminatory laws and a latent LGBTQ-hostile attitude are now part of the standard repertoire in the culture war of the Republicans, right up to ex-President Donald Trump. Barely encoded, LGBTQ people are equated with pedophiles who are out to sexually exploit children and young people. An accusation that the Federal Police FBI rejects with reference to the crime statistics.
According to the findings of the “Anti-Defamation League” (ADL), the rhetoric, which often leads to hostility and hatred, is not without effect. The lobby organization, originally founded against anti-Semitism, registered almost 360 hate crimes against the LGBTQ community in 46 of 50 states from spring 2022 to spring 2023.
It is often a matter of life and death. The O’Shae Sibley case is still fresh. The 28-year-old was active in the queer New York dance scene. In late July, his gang clashed at a Brooklyn gas station with five teenagers who were chanting anti-gay slogans. Sibley tried his hand at mediation. He ended up on the asphalt with a fatal knife wound in the heart. His death is not an isolated case. According to the HRC, there were also real hunting scenes in other states, often encouraged by arch-conservative and religious groups.
According to experts at Georgetown University in Washington, the resentment goes back to a ten-year-old Supreme Court ruling. At that time, same-sex marriage was legalized nationwide against angry protests from the right. Radical-conservative organizations have “not made their peace with it until today”.
Biden announces better protective measures
Reprisals against the LGBTQ community are also regularly castigated by celebrities in the cultural sector. Most recently, British pop star Elton John lamented a “growing wave of anger and homophobia” in America.
In the summer, the White House announced new initiatives to better protect the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people. President Joe Biden said more resources would be used in the future and agencies would be more closely integrated to better protect the safety of Pride ceremonies, marches, community centers, health facilities and businesses.
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