Dem
47
GOP
53
It is hardly a secret that the Republican Party is going to ride anti-trans sentiment for all it's worth in 2026 and in 2028. The great majority of Republican voters are anti-trans, either because they think it's somehow sinful, or perverse, or harmful to children, or "weird." A whole lot of non-Republicans are on board, too, at least in part. There aren't too many GOP issues these days that work like that.
In the last month or so, the "fight" against trans Americans has flared up in several ways. To start with, red states love to sue anyone they can think of who might be encouraging trans acceptance. For example, Florida tried to sue the American Academy of Pediatrics because that organization decreed that gender-affirming care for minors, when handled properly, is safe and effective. The Floridians have not gotten far, however. U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly granted an injuction early last month, noting the "objective weakness" of the case, and said the facts involved support an "inference of bad faith." Florida AG James Uthmeier appealed to the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, and there a three-judge panel reached the same conclusion by a 2-1 vote.
Meanwhile, the fanatically conservative FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr is busy trying to do his part. He has taken steps toward codifying a policy stating that any programs "with transgender and gender non-binary programming" that are broadcast over public airwaves must have a "trans content" label affixed. Free speech advocates, and there are a lot of them, have observed that this is clearly a violation of the First Amendment and a gross overreach by the FCC. They might also have added that it's a rather impractical policy to enforce or to police. Do old episodes of Texaco Star Theater, featuring Uncle Miltie in drag, get the warning? How about the roughly 70% of episodes of I Love Lucy where Lucy dresses like a man to fool Ricky? Airings of Tootsie, Some Like It Hot or Mrs. Doubtfire? Reruns of Monty Python, Baroness von Sketch Show or Kids in the Hall?
And, as many readers know by now, the culture-wars aspect of anti-trans sentiment showed itself at the White House UFC event, which was attended almost exclusively by Republicans, including Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC):
There are some people on social media who feel that photo sent a different message than the one the Senator intended to send (a comment we saw, more than once, was "You go, girl!"). In any event, the anti-trans moment came when UFC Fighter Josh Hokit dusted off an old chesnut and declared that Michelle Obama is secretly a man. Nobody in the White House objected to or apologized for this slur, though some members of the administration did whine a week later, when Donald Trump somehow did not score an invite to the opening of the Obama presidential library. Hard to imagine why. On a somewhat similar culture-wars note, quite a few Republican officeholders tried to drown out Pride Month a little bit by rebranding it as Strong Families Month (Alabama), Nuclear Family Month (Indiana and Tennessee), or Fidelity Month (Utah and Arkansas).
And that brings us to the more news-y element of this item. Again, it's no secret that in this election cycle, and for as many election cycles where it seems to be working, Republicans are going to go after the T in LGBTQ for all it's worth. However, the attempts to rename Pride Month are also part of "reclaiming the culture," per conservative activist Lakie Derrick. The basic argument, which is surely familiar by now, is that nobody ever praises "traditional" families, and that it's "difficult to celebrate traditional marriage," per president of the conservative Heritage Foundation Kevin Roberts. The upshot here is that in addition to going after T, quite a few Republicans and right-wing activists have decided it's also time to start pushing back again at the L, G and B again, as well.
At the start of Pride Month, for example, well-known bigot Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN) posted a message to eX-Twitter: "Homosexuality has no place in America. Happy Nuclear Family Month." He has posted similar messages in the past about other groups, most obviously immigrants and Muslims, though this time he got enough blowback that he deleted the tweet.
Still, Ogles was expressing sentiments that at least some of his colleagues sympathize with. Rep. Mary Miller (R-IA) is a veritable machine when it comes to legislation targeting LGBTQ Americans; just this term she has introduced the "Keep Our Girls Safe Act of 2025" (restroom bill), "Safety and Opportunity for Girls Act of 2025" (Ibid.), "Defining Male and Female Act of 2025" (legally defining "male" and "female" based on sex assigned at birth), "Supporting the Designation of June as Family Month" (Rename Pride Month), "Supporting the Recognition of 'Detransition Awareness Day'" (create a national day dedicated to people who transition and then change their mind), and the "Stopping Indoctrination and Protecting Kids Act" (schools can't use a child's preferred name or gender markers without parental consent). There are other members who have introduced such legislation, including Reps. Josh Brecheen (R-OK), Mike Collins (R-GA), Paul Gosar (R-AZ), Glenn Grothman (R-WI) and Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL), but Miller is leading the pack.
Anti-gay sentiment has also taken the field, once again, in the culture wars. There was, for example, a bizarro story last month, wherein someone (identity still unknown) paid a bunch of MAGA influencers to trash a well-known American product for being "DEI" and "gay." And that product is... Harley-Davidson motorcycles which, frankly, we never expected to ever see in the same sentence with either "DEI" or "gay."
That said, whoever instigated this particular effort did their job well. MAGA influencer Priya Patel announced that Harley-Davidson is "fundamentally anti-American," and said that if she ever buys a motorcycle (something she has never done), it will be an Indian. Former actor and current MAGA mouthpiece Kevin Sorbo promised that he and his friends are off Harleys forever. MAGA memer "Prison Mitch" slurred Harley motorcycles as "woke and gay." He also posted a not-quite-safe-for-work image that we won't share, but that you can view here, if you really wish. And UFC fighter (this is something of a recurring motif) Sean Strickland announced that he too has switched to Indian motorcycles, because "Everytime I got on my harley I was indirectly supporting radical idealogy that actually pushing radical idealogy on children." Undoubtedly, we can all agree that the first question that should be asked of any motorcycle manufacturer is "What is their idealogy?"
The highest profile culture-wars battle of Pride Month, meanwhile, involved the San Francisco Giants. In short, the Giants (and Dodgers) were doing Pride nights well before it was cool. In both cases, it is because the teams have a large LGBTQ fanbase, inasmuch as both cities have a large LGBTQ community. This year, the Giants' event included caps where the usually orange SF was, instead rainbow-colored:
As many readers will know by now, several Giants players rebelled against the cap, choosing to write Biblical verses on them in protest. The league warned them not to do that, and many right-wingers made a stink about how the players' religious liberty and First Amendment rights were being trampled upon. That includes J.D. Vance—who, as you may have heard, is pondering a run for president in 2028. He tweeted: "Trump won we don't have to do this anymore."
The facts here do not support the victimhood narrative that Vance and others are peddling, however. First, this is not a First Amendment issue, as the San Francisco Giants are not the federal government. They are a private business that made a decision meant to promote their business interests. If the players don't like the choices the team made, they are free to find another line of work or to take the night off and lose out on that pay. And, in truth, the players were not actually required to participate; they were given the choice to wear the regular cap. The trio who wrote on their caps were just looking to make a statement. Finally, the players were merely warned, which happens whenever any player makes any change to their uniform (note the meaning of the word "uniform"). They were not sanctioned in any way. MLB knows it has many LGBTQ fans and many LGBTQ-ally fans, but it also has plenty of anti-LGBTQ fans, and doesn't particularly want to antagonize anyone. The politics are different, but this is also why Colin Kaepernick was not sanctioned by the NFL.
Anyhow, the overall point here is that the anti-trans stuff is coming, and it looks like the anti-gay stuff might be coming too. As a pure matter of political strategy, the former is rational, albeit not admirable. As to the latter, we are considerably more skeptical of its efficacy. The great majority of Americans now believe it's OK to be gay, and if Republicans try to relitigate that, they risk affirming perceptions that the party is retrograde and in the thrall of the religious right. They might even cause some people to think, "I've heard this before, and I suspect the anti-trans stuff is coming from the same place as the anti-gay stuff, and that's no good."
Incidentally, since we are on the general subject of Republicans, we'll mention a story that is not LGBTQ-related, but that could develop rapidly over the next couple of days, before we have the chance to do news again. On June 14, paramedics responded to a "cardiac arrest" at an address belonging to Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY). Since that day, McConnell has not been present in the Senate, and so is not casting votes. His staff has remained close-lipped about why he is absent, or when he might return to work, though they did finally concede he's been hospitalized.
As we are not physicians, we don't particularly like connecting the dots here. However, other folks online have begun to do so, so we think we should probably offer a heads up. The percentage of people who survive at at-home cardiac arrest is 6%. An even smaller percentage survive without long-term consequences, such as brain damage. At the same time, if someone on-scene commences CPR immediately, the odds of survival improve to 15-18%. Needless to say, we don't know for sure if it was really a cardiac arrest, or if there was CPR. But don't be terribly surprised if the news breaks over the weekend that McConnell is permanently incapacitated and won't return to work, or that he has passed away. (Z)