This is going to be a controversial topic, but it is one that I want to address for a very specific reason. In the US Capitol, the National Statuary Hall is a collection of 100 statues contributed by 50 states, two statues each. Last month the House of Representatives voted to banish from the Capitol statues of Confederate figures and leaders, part of a broader effort to remove historical symbols of racism and oppression from public spaces. Senate Republicans are refusing to address the issue because they claim that it is up to the states to choose who is represented in the National Statuary Hall. Some of the statues never belonged at the Capitol in the first place, such as Jefferson Davis (CSA Pres.; Mississippi), Alexander Stephens (CSA VP; Georgia) or Robert E Lee (CSA Gen.; Virginia). However, at least one of the statues that the House wants removed are of people who I think redeemed themselves after their service to the Confederacy. 

Joseph Wheeler (Alabama), who was a West Point graduate, resigned from the U.S. Army to serve as a general in the Confederate Army and was considered one of its top cavalry leaders. However, Wheeler later represented Alabama for eight terms as a Democrat in the House. While in Congress, Wheeler worked to heal the breach between the North and the South after the Civil War and championed economic policies that would help rebuild the Southern states. At the age of 61, he volunteered for the Spanish–American War, receiving an appointment to major general of volunteers from President William McKinley. During the war, he was in command of Theodore Roosevelt and the Rough Riders, and then served in the Philippine-American War, where he left the volunteer service and was commissioned a brigadier general in the regular army, reentering the organization he had resigned from over 39 years before. I will admit that the statue should be replaced, because it portrays Wheeler in his Confederate uniform, but I think it should be replaced with a new statue of Wheeler. 

Honestly, the rest can go. The only other one that comes close to being redeemable is that of US Supreme Court Chief Justice Edward Douglass White. White enlisted in the Confederate Army and was captured by Union forces in 1865. After the Civil War, he served in the state Senate and U.S. Senate before President Grover Cleveland nominated him to the Supreme Court in 1894. He became chief justice in 1910 and served in that position until his death in 1921. However, White’s record on race during his time on the Supreme Court is mixed at best. He sided with the Supreme Court majority in Plessy v. Ferguson, which upheld the legality of state segregation to provide “separate but equal” public facilities in the United States, despite protections of the Fourteenth Amendment to equal protection of the laws. In one of several challenges to Southern states’ grandfather clauses, used to disfranchise African-American voters at the turn of the century, he wrote for a unanimous court in Guinn v. United States, which struck down many Southern states’ grandfather clauses. 

Some statues of Confederates have already been removed. One of those is that of Jabez Lamar Monroe Curry, who formerly was one of Alabama’s statues. His statue was removed in 2009 and replaced with one of Helen Keller. Curry was removed because he was deemed racist and a former Confederate. Here’s the issue though, Curry did serve in the Confederate Army, but after the war, he was president of Howard College, now Samford University in Birmingham. Also, after the war he studied for the ministry and became a preacher, but the focus of his work for the rest of his life was free education in the South. His pro-slavery speeches from before the Civil War and membership in the Confederate House of Representatives may demonstrate strong ties to the southern cause; however, his efforts to promote education for Blacks during the Reconstruction era up through the end of the 19th century are reflective of ideals that were not shared by many of his contemporaries. The statue was removed anyway, and maybe Helen Keller is a better representation for Alabama.

This brings me to the inspiration for this post. The North Carolina legislature has voted to replace a statue of former North Carolina Gov. Charles Brantley Aycock, who is perhaps best known today for his campaigns to advance white supremacy. I agree it should be replaced. The problem is who North Carolina wants to represent the state instead. North Carolina wants to replace Aycock with a statue of the evangelical preacher Billy Graham. Graham may have been the spiritual advisor to every U.S. president from Harry Truman to Barack Obama before his death in 2018, but he wasn’t known for welcoming all people into Christianity. In 1973, he said that homosexuality is a “sinister form of perversion” in his advice column, responding to a girl who wrote in and said she was in love with another girl. “We traffic in homosexuality at the peril of spiritual welfare,” he wrote. “Your affection for another of your own sex is misdirected and will be judged by God’s holy standards.” He then claimed that the U.S. “applauded” homosexuality because “morals have so eroded” and advised the girl to be “converted” and that “such reformation is possible for you.”

In 1993, he said that AIDS was “God’s punishment” for homosexuality. “I could not say for sure, but I think so,” he said. Two weeks later he retracted the remark, saying, “I don’t believe that, and I don’t know why I said it,” but we all know why he said it. He believed it. Graham also opposed same-sex marriage, and in 2012 he took out full-page ads in favor of North Carolina Amendment 1 which banned it in North Carolina. Graham’s stated position was that he did not want to talk about homosexuality as a political issue. Corky Siemaszko, writing for NBC News, noted that after the 1993 incident, Graham “largely steered clear of the subject.” Graham may have kept mostly silent publicly after the 1993 incident, but it’s obvious he must not have privately. His son, who is now CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and of Samaritan’s Purse, is one of the most virulent homophobic men in America. He is also a major Trump supporter. One example of his vitriol towards gay people came when he attacked former presidential candidate and South Bend, Indiana mayor Pete Buttigieg. Graham attacked Buttigieg for his homosexuality and marriage to another gay man in April 2019, tweeting “Mayor Buttigieg says he’s a gay Christian. As a Christian I believe the Bible which defines homosexuality as sin, something to be repentant of, not something to be flaunted, praised or politicized. The Bible says marriage is between a man & a woman—not two men, not two women.”  Franklin has kept his father’s website which still says that sex is sin unless it’s “within a marriage between a man and a woman” and that the Bible “speaks only negatively of homosexual behavior whenever it is mentioned.”

So, here is my question: Why is it acceptable to place a statue of an extremely influential homophobe in the National Statuary Hall in this day and age?

The answer is simple. What it boils down to is this: within American politics, it is still acceptable by many to be homophobic, but from many of the same people it is not acceptable to be a racist. What is the difference? The difference is that with all the gains the LGBTQ+ community have made, we are still second-class citizens and the religious right wants to keep it that way. For many out there, LGBTQ+ lives do not matter. It is inherently wrong to be either racist or homophobic. Americans must realize that.

When I was doing research for my PhD, I spent four weeks in Italy. It was truly a wonderful experience. I found Italians to be some of the kindest, friendliest, and most welcoming people I have ever met. However, one incident will always stick out in my mind. I was going somewhere in Rome, and I had taken the Rome Metro, which back then was only an X across the city (they were just beginning work on the C Line when I was there). I don’t remember where I was going that particular day, mainly because of what I ran into when I emerged from the Metro. The street was full of people marching and dressed in black. Angry shouts were coming from the sidewalks from people not dressed in black. One of those dressed in black walked up to me and put a leaflet in my hand. That’s when I realized I’d emerged someplace that I did not want to be. The leaflet was for one of Italy’s neo-facist organizations. I am not fluent in any language but English, but because I studied Spanish throughout my years in school and dabbled a little in French and Italian, I do have a familiarity with most Romance languages, and while I can’t speak any of them well, I can read enough to understand what I’m reading.

When I see the hate groups today marching in the streets of the United States and bolstered by our president, I do see similarities between that Italian neo-fascist parade and what we see today in the United States. The biggest difference is that the Italians were mostly peaceful, the American versions are not. The American hate groups are armed and threatening. While the neo-fascists in Italy had very little representation in the government, we not only have a president that supports them but a political party that is silent about them. The same political party also defends their rights to carry weapons in the streets and terrorize other American citizens. These same political leaders send in secret law enforcement officers to attack peaceful protestors who are trying to change problems with police brutality against minorities but do nothing when the protestors are supporting the current administration, violence and hate. Watch Representative Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) question Attorney General Bill Barr about federal officers who descended on protesters near the White House ahead of a photo-op for President Donald Trump yet ignored protestors who threatened to kill the Michigan governor. 

In a Washington Post op-ed published on his retirement, Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, who was a key witness in President Donald Trump’s impeachment inquiry, wrote, “Our national government during the past few years has been more reminiscent of the authoritarian regime my family fled more than 40 years ago than the country I have devoted my life to serving.” So, is Trump just an authoritarian wannabe or is he in fact a fascist? We like to use the word fascist for all kinds of authoritarian regimes, but what does it really mean to be a fascist? Scholars generally agree that there are 14 characteristics of fascism:

1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism 
2. Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights 
3. Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause 
4. Supremacy of the Military 
5. Rampant Sexism 
6. Controlled Mass Media 
7. Obsession with National Security 
8. Religion and Government are Intertwined 
9. Corporate Power is Protected 
10. Labor Power is Suppressed 
11. Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts 
12. Obsession with Crime and Punishment 
13. Rampant Cronyism and Corruption 
14. Fraudulent Elections 

Does Trump fit the characterizations of a fascist? Some but technically not all. He is not a mass murderer like Hitler, but he is a bully like the Italian fascist dictator Benito Mussolini and shares some similarities to the fascist corporatism of Portuguese dictator António de Oliveira Salazar. (1) Trump claims a powerful and continuing nationalism but his seeming loyalty to Vladimir Putin says otherwise. (2) He definitely has a disdain for the recognition of human rights: immigrant children in cages, transphobic and racist rhetoric, etc. (3) Without a doubt, Trump identifies his enemies and those he uses as scapegoats as a way to unify his base. Trump ALWAYS has someone else to blame for everything. (4) Trump claims to fully support the military but his actions when dealing with soldiers such a Vindman who have showed criticism of his policies or Capt. Brett Crozier, who was relieved of his command because he sounded the alarm about an outbreak of COVID-19 aboard his ship, the USS Theodore Roosevelt, while the government denied the pandemic was a problem. The military knows that it cannot trust Trump, a man who knew that Putin had paid bounties for the death of American soldiers yet did nothing and says he did not know about the bounties, contrary to what those closest to him have reported. (6) The next characteristic is rampant sexism. Do I even need to elaborate on that one? 

(7) While Trump does not control the mass media, except he has the support of most of Fox News and the One America News Network, he really wishes he could control the media, but that pesky First Amendment stands in his way. (8) Only when he wants to deflect from another disaster he has caused, does Trump seem to become obsessed with National Security. He seemingly worries about China but not the more dangerous Russia or North Korea. (9) Trump has pandered to and protected corporate power, especially when it pertains to his own business interests. The Republican Party elite is made up of an industrial and business aristocracy, who put Trump into power and created a mutually beneficial business/government relationship and an even more powerful elite. (10) Trump has been no friend to organized labor or the average American worker, especially evident during the pandemic when the country has reached record highs in unemployment and his administration is trying to cut needed relief packages for unemployed workers. 

(11) Trump has always shown his disdain for intellectuals, while claiming to be a genius and the smartest person in the room, yet he had to cheat to even get into college. He has consistently dismissed scientist over climate issues and dismisses legitimate scientific and medical experts when dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. Yes, he did support Dr. Stella Immanuel, a doctor and pastor who claims include blaming medical conditions on witches and demons who have “astral” sex with humans, alleging that alien DNA was being used in medical treatments, and that scientists were cooking up a vaccine to prevent people from being religious. The preeminent infectious disease expert in the United States, Dr. Anthony Fauci, stated that most European countries shut down their economy by 95%, while functionally the U.S. only shut its economy down by 50% and that this is part of the reason the U.S. has continued to see a surge in cases while European countries have seen a sharp decrease. Trump responded in a tweet, “Wrong! We have more cases because we have tested far more than any other country, 60,000,000. If we tested less, there would be less cases.” Last week, Trump retweeted a message that said Fauci had “misled” Americans on a number of issues. Fauci disputed that claim: “I have not been misleading the American public under any circumstances.” Earlier, Trump had characterized Fauci as “a little bit of an alarmist.” Fauci also pushed back on that assertion, saying he considered himself “more a realist than an alarmist.”

(12) With Trump’s current campaign message as being the ‘law and order” candidate and his violent suppression of protesters, he is certainly showing an obsession with crime and punishment, except when it comes to his friends. He cares nothing about following the rule of law himself, yet he had crowds chanting “lock her up” referring to Hillary Clinton during his 2016 campaign and even continued encouraging the chant during his time in office. (13) The Trump administration has been one of the worst administrations in American history for rampant cronyism and corruption. Usually the top of the list of corrupt administrations are those of Grant, Harding, and Nixon (though Reagan’s administration should also rank near the top), but Trump seems bound and determined to outdo them all. A staggering number of people in the Trump administration and his associates have been convicted of crimes and sentenced to jail. A few of these criminals, Trump has distanced himself from but others such as Roger Stone, he pardoned or continues to support. (14) We also know that Trump encouraged the Russians and even the Chinese to interfere with the 2016 election and then did everything he could do to block the investigation into how much election tampering Russia accomplished. Now he is claiming that the coming 2020 election will be fraudulent so he can question the legitimacy of the election, even going to so far as to call for moving the date of the election. All of his election tactics in 2016 and 2020 has been meant to call into suspicion any election that he might not win.

In 1933, Salazar stated: “Our Dictatorship clearly resembles a fascist dictatorship in the reinforcement of authority, in the war declared against certain principles of democracy, in its accentuated nationalist character, in its preoccupation of social order. However, it differs from it in its process of renovation. The fascist dictatorship tends towards a pagan Caesarism, towards a state that knows no limits of a legal or moral order, which marches towards its goal without meeting complications or obstacles. The Portuguese New State, on the contrary, cannot avoid, not think of avoiding, certain limits of a moral order which it may consider indispensable to maintain in its favor of its reforming action.” Trump will never be as blatant as Salazar had been about his authoritarian regime because at the end of the day, he does have to answer to the US Constitution and the American people. He may not like it, and he may threaten to circumvent the Constitution and the will of the majority of Americans. He doesn’t understand the rule of law or care anything about knowing the rule of law, but at the end of the day, we have a Supreme Court that has stood up to him (though not always), and we have a House of Representatives that will hold him in check as much as they can. We also have an election coming up that he cannot stop or postpone. We have some governors and mayors who are fighting tooth and nail against his oppression in their states and cities and his ineptitude in dealing with the current pandemic.

So, while like Salazar, he is not a fully-fledged fascist because American laws prevent him from going too far, Trump is without a doubt a wannabe authoritarian. He may have the religious right backing him simply because he’s a Republican and against abortion (he cannot claim to be pro-life due to his lack of sympathy for the death of over 150,000 Americans due to his own ineptitude). He may even have fringe militia groups and hate groups ready to fight for his political survival. What he does not have is the heart and minds of American troops or a positive approval from the majority of Americans. He will never be able to force the United States to reject the election results if he loses. When November 3, 2020 comes and the American people vote him out of office, his term will end at noon on January 20, 2021. For all the Americans who read this blog, it is imperative, it is your duty, and it is your ability to vote Trump out of office that will save the United States. Because if we do not defeat him in November, I fear there will not be a United States to see him reach the limit to his terms of office in 2025. If we want our republic to survive, we must vote for Joe Biden as president on November 3. We need stability and progress in the United States, and we need someone who will respect the laws of this country. So, while you’re at it, vote against every Republican on the ballot and let’s make this a Blue Wave in November.

Jeff Sessions lost the US Senate GOP Alabama primary runoff to former Auburn University football coach Tommy Tuberville. It was a major blow to the former Attorney General, who had faced fierce opposition to his candidacy from the President. Tuberville, who was endorsed by the President, will now advance to the November general election as the Republican candidate set to take on incumbent Democratic Sen. Doug Jones. The race is likely to be the Republican Party’s best pickup opportunity of the cycle.

Jones, who pulled off an upset in the deep red state in a 2017 special election, is widely viewed as the most vulnerable Senate Democrat facing reelection in 2020. The outcome of Tuesday’s GOP runoff race marks a significant political defeat for Sessions who had been fighting to reclaim a Senate seat he had previously held.

Sessions was the first US senator to endorse Trump in the 2016 presidential race. As Attorney General in the Trump administration, he fell out of favor with the President and became a target of his attacks after he recused himself from the FBI probe into Russian interference in the 2016 campaign.

Sessions became the underdog in the fight for his old job after losing the support of the President. Tuesday night, Trump was quick to celebrate the victory by his candidate of choice, tweeting, “Tommy Tuberville WON big against Jeff Sessions. Will be a GREAT Senator for the incredible people of Alabama. @DougJones is a terrible Senator who is just a Super Liberal puppet for Schumer & Pelosi. Represents Alabama poorly. On to November 3rd.”

The rest of this post is geared towards my Alabama readers, especially those who are Alabama football fans. Does anybody remember what an asshole Tuberville was a football coach? He was widely known in Mississippi as Tommy Turncoat when he broke his contact with Ole Miss to go to Auburn. He can’t be trusted, and he will turn on the people of Alabama too if he gets the chance. He has no loyalty to anyone. Furthermore, need I remind you of the whole incident of holding up his fingers to show how many times he beat Alabama? It was unsportsmanlike and childish.

He’s also a crook. In 2010, Tuberville was a co-defendant with John David Stroud in a lawsuit brought against TS Capital LLC which the two founded. The lawsuit was filed by investors, and alleged that Tuberville and Stroud co-managed a hedge fund that defrauded investors of $1.7 million. In October 2011, the Business Conduct Committee of the National Futures Association, a self-regulating industry organization, took “emergency enforcement action” to permanently bar the firm from soliciting, accepting, transferring or disbursing any funds from investors. Stroud was found guilty in August 2013 of securities fraud and was ordered to pay $2.1 million in restitution and serve 10 years in jail. The case against Tuberville was settled on October 10, 2013, but terms were not disclosed. If he will cheat investors out of $1.7 million dollars, he will cheat Alabama voters as well.

Furthermore, Tuberville’s primary residence isn’t even Alabama; it’s Florida. He only began staying in Alabama, and notice I said staying, because he has no desire to live in the state, so he could run as a Trump puppet for the Senate. Tuberville is homophobic, racist, and a crook. If you want this as a Senator, you are an idiot. How can an Alabama fan stomach voting for Tuberville? It is unthinkable.

Jones is a University of Alabama alumni. As U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama, Jones successfully prosecuted two Ku Klux Klan members for the 1963 Birmingham church bombing that killed four African American girls, and the indicted domestic terrorist Eric Rudolph. But if you are hellbent on Republican ideals, Jones is considered a moderate Democrat who demonstrates a willingness to work with Republicans, to split with his party on certain issues, and has voted with Trump’s position about 37% of the time as of April 2020. Jones has worked tirelessly for Alabama, and he is really the only choice for the Senate.

I believe Alabama voters voted for Tuberville only because he was Trump’s choice. Of course, Trump cares nothing about the people of Alabama. He merely wants your votes, and you will get NOTHING in return. Tuberville has no stance on any issue; he just parrots Trump. His only campaign promise is he will be loyal to Trump. Do you want a man of substance like Jones, or do you want someone who is nothing but a Trump lapdog?

Remember, Alabama fans: Trump can’t even get Nick Saban’s name right, calling him Lou Saban. Remember, Trump said of Tuberville, “Really successful coach. Beat Alabama, like six in a row, but we won’t even mention that.” He brought up one of the most humiliating series of moments in Alabama football history. No one who cares about Alabama can bring up Tuberville’s winning streak against the Tide, and then refer to Alabama’s coach by the wrong name. Also, Trump famously attended the Alabama-LSU game at Bryant-Denny Stadium last season. There are plenty of superstitious Alabama fans out there who point to a specific moment in that game when everything started going downhill for Alabama. It was right after they showed Trump on the videoboard in the first quarter. Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa fumbled the ball walking into the end zone a few moments later; he then threw the worst interception of his career at the end of the first half. Trump was a distraction that day, and Alabama was never the same in that season. 

Politicians might flip-flop all the time, but that’s a Cardinal sin when it comes to Alabama and Auburn fans. Trump might as well just ask for unsweet tea and rolls instead of sweet tea and cornbread. Tommy Tuberville can never represent a true Alabama fan. So, in November, show him we don’t forget, and vote for Doug Jones.

The Washington Post has been keeping track of the number of lies that Donald Trump has told in public. When I checked the site yesterday, it had last been updated on May 29, 2020, at that time, Trump had been in office for 1,226 (long and disastrous) days in office. In that time, Trump has made 19,128 false or misleading claims. During his time in office, Trump and his administration has been the most viciously anti-LGBTQ administration in the nation’s history. Now, the Republican Party has published a claim so preposterous you’d think it was published in The Onion. President Donald Trump, they say, has “taken unprecedented steps to protect the LGBTQ community.” This from a man that picked Mike Pence, one of America’s most homophobic politicians, as his Vice President. On the same day the Republican Party made this announcement, they also announced it would recycle its cruel 2016 platform that specifically targeted the LGBTQ community for condemnation. As such, the Republican platform will continue to oppose same-sex marriage and the expansion of civil rights for sexual orientation and gender identity while supporting President Donald Trump’s transgender military ban, conversion therapy, and businesses discriminating against same-sex couples.

In the statement released by the GOP, the party only lists times the president “kept his promise to protect the LGBTQ citizens,” conveniently leaving out the hundreds of times the administration has actively worked to undermine the community. Many of the accomplishments were simply continuations of protocols set by previous administrations and were either broken promises or extremely misleading. One of the statement’s assertions touts that since elected, President Trump has selected five openly gay persons for a position as U.S. Ambassador: Robert Gilchrist, Richard Grenell, Randy Berry, Eric Nelson, and Jeff Daigle. The document also points out that in 2019, President Trump’s first LGBTQ judicial nominee, Mary Rowland was confirmed to the District Court of Northern District of Illinois.

In a letter to the U.S. Military Academy’s graduating class, a coalition of several hundred West Point alumni slammed the Trump administration’s politicization of the military amid nationwide protests. “Sadly, the government has threatened to use the Army in which you serve as a weapon against fellow Americans engaging in these legitimate protests. Worse, military leaders, who took the same oath you take today, have participated in politically charged events,” the alumni wrote. “The oath taken by those who choose to serve in America’s military is aspirational. We pledge service to no monarch; no government; no political party; no tyrant,” the group continued, adding that they were “concerned that fellow graduates serving in senior-level, public positions are failing to uphold their oath of office and their commitment to Duty, Honor, Country.” I bring this up because like those West Point alumni in the Trump administration who have betrayed their oath, Robert Gilchrist, Richard Grenell, Randy Berry, Eric Nelson, and Jeff Daigle have betrayed their own LGBTQ community. 

There is no excuse for someone working against their own best interest for fame, power, or whatever reason they try to justify their traitorous actions. To quote Michelangelo Signorile, “When you will sell out your own kind, there’s really no telling how low you will go.” Maybe the lesbian, gay, and bisexual men and women (as far as I know, there are no transgender people in the administration) who work in the Trump administration don’t see themselves as traitors, yet they work for an administration that has systematically done everything it can to destroy LGBTQ equality since being sworn into office. The lesbian, gay, and bisexual people who work for an administration which is actively trying to destroy the LGBTQ community may claim that they are trying to work within the system to change it are deceiving themselves and anyone who listens to them. Instead they need to be advocating strongly for LGBTQ rights and not collaborating with people working against that cause. They need to actively be working to get this administration our of office. When Joe Biden becomes president, this country will once again stand as a beacon of hope for LGBTQ people in America and around the world.

Donald Trump and Mike Pence have done everything in their power to endanger the rights and lives of LGBTQ people: banning transgender service members from being able to serve their country, proposing policies to strip LGBTQ health care protections, allowing homeless shelters to turn away transgender people, and encouraging adoption agencies to discriminate against LGBTQ families, and the list seems to never end. The list the GOP released includes laughably tiny gestures like allowing a gay man to speak at the 2016 convention and lists various appointments he made that were filled by LGBTQ community members, like the ones I mentioned above. For many in the LGBTQ community, they risked everything to come out and be who they really are. Most survived, others did not, and many others lost their family and friends. We have fought too hard to let our government take away our rights.

A large part of the list revolves around former ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell. The out Trump acolyte was tapped to serve as Acting Director of National Intelligence, making him the first gay person to hold a cabinet-level position. Grenell’s tenure in both positions was rocked with repeated scandals and German officials reportedly “shunned” the controversial diplomat for his association with the far right, his interference in German domestic politics, and a perceived lack of professionalism, describing him as “narcissistic.” As the ambassador, Grenell announced a new federal initiative to decriminalize homosexuality around the world and said it demonstrated Trump’s commitment to civil rights and the LGBTQ community. Asked about it by reporters, Trump admitted he didn’t know anything about it. In total, Trump has nominated five gay men to ambassadorial positions, yet the administration refused to allow embassies to fly rainbow flags during Pride month. 

Why am I saying all of this? It’s because lesbian, gay, and bisexual kids are three times more likely than straight kids to attempt suicide at some point in their lives. Medically serious attempts at suicide are four times more likely among LGBTQ youth than other young people. African American, Latino, Native American, and Asian American people who are lesbian, gay, or bisexual attempt suicide at especially high rates. One study found that 41 percent of transgender adults said they had attempted suicide. The same study found that 61 percent of transgender people who were victims of physical assault had attempted suicide. Lesbian, gay, and bisexual young people who come from families that reject or do not accept them are over eight times more likely to attempt suicide than those whose families accept them. Each time an LGBTQ person is a victim of physical or verbal harassment or abuse, they become two and a half times more likely to hurt themselves. This administration is furthering this with their policies of LGBTQ discrimination.

If we had a more accepting society in America, we could fight these statistics. So, I partially hold those LGBTQ people who work for the Trump administration responsible because they are helping make it harder for the LGBTQ community. I had a very good friend who was gay. Even though his family was not religious, they were conservative. When he came out to them, his brother nearly beat him to death while his parents watched and did nothing. His family never spoke to him again. Shortly after that, he tried to commit suicide. Thank goodness, he failed in his attempt. A friend found him in time, and he was taken to a hospital. Sadly, he died too young in a car accident several years later. This is hard for me to write, but because gay people were so demonized when I was growing up, I didn’t think it was possible for me to be gay. I was bullied relentlessly in school for being a sissy, appearing to be gay, or because my voice was not deep enough. The bullying and the inability to deal with my own sexuality led me to try and take my own life. I thank God every day that I was unsuccessful. I believe now that God had and has a plan for me. However, my parents still don’t accept me being gay, and I don’t expect they ever will. I suspect that a large number of my LGBTQ readers have faced similar issues: you either have attempted suicide, you know an LGBTQ who has attempted suicide, or you know an LGBTQ person who did commit suicide.

All of these are reasons why LGBTQ people should not work within an administration like Trump’s because by doing so, they are showing acceptance of his policies. We have to fight as hard as we can against LBGTQ discrimination. We need the United States to show the world that we care about our LGBTQ community. We can do that by electing Joe Biden. He has already been shown to be an LGBTQ ally, and his campaign recently announced a new voter outreach effort, Out For Biden, aimed at the LGBTQ community. Biden believes that every human being should be treated with respect and dignity and be able to live without fear no matter who they are or who they love. During the Obama-Biden Administration, the United States made historic strides toward LGBTQ equality: the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” Biden’s historic declaration in support of marriage equality on Meet the Press in 2012, and the unprecedented advancement of protections for LGBTQ Americans at the federal level. While there are 11 million LGBTQ Americans eligible to vote in the upcoming presidential election, over 2 million aren’t registered to vote. According to the Williams Institute, 50 percent of registered LGBTQ voters are Democrats, 15 percent are Republicans, 22 percent are Independents, and 13 percent said they identify with another party or did not know with which party they most identify. LGBTQ voters are racially diverse, 47 percent are under age 35, and one-third have at least a college education. As LGBTQ people, we are central to the fabric of this country. We must elect a government that will focus their voices and celebrate the contributions of LGBTQ people everywhere.

The bottom line is that if you support Trump you cannot seriously claim to support the LGBTQ community. As I said the other day “Not all Trump supporters are racist, but all of them decided that racism isn’t a deal breaker.” The same goes true concerning the LGBTQ community: not all Trump supporters are homophobic, but all of them decided that homophobia isn’t a deal breaker. This was clearly and bluntly (with a few expletives) illustrated by a gay Texas man named Andrew Joseph Duffer, who recently posted a YouTube video titled: “Five Minutes of Hot Tea.” The video may be hilarious, but Duffer’s description of Trump supporters in his small Texas hometown should raise concerns. I can relate to this video concerning my friends and family back in Alabama. As Duffer points out, “it’s not a difference of opinion, it’s a difference of morality.” If you haven’t seen this video, it’s worth watching. He uses some language I don’t use among polite society, but few of my friends are polite, so I won’t say its language I don’t use. Watch it if you want. Some will like it, some won’t:

I know there is a lot packed into this post, and I got a little carried away. I had a lot I wanted to say. If you read it all, thank you.