LGBTQ+ People Say Farewell Trump Admin.

lgbtq+ peopleDeja Nicole Greenlaw at a former Pride celebration circa 2012.
Photo: TRT Archives

A New Dawn is Coming; A Biden Administration Means Protections for LGBTQ+ People

By: Deja Nicole Greenlaw*/TRT Columnist—

I, for one, am so glad that Biden/Harris beat Trump/Pence for president/vice-president of the United States. We can expect that President-elect Biden will roll back Trump’s awful executive orders with some of his own. I expect that transgender people will be allowed to openly serve in the military once again and homeless shelters won’t be able to refuse a spot for transgender people either.

Also, I anticipate that the Biden administration will put back gender identity and expression in the government documents that the previous administration scratched us out. It is disgusting how badly LGBTQA+ folks are and were treated under the Trump administration and I’m glad that the Biden administration will see us, know that we exist, and will look out for us.

I always cringe when I find out after an election that the Republicans won the presidency, or control of the House or of the Senate. That means trouble for us as LGBTQ+ folks and especially transgender folks because the Republican Party will gladly do the work of the extremist religious groups in return for voter support. And look at the 2020 erasure of civil rights protections for transgender people in health care! If that’s not a wake-up call for you, I don’t know then.

Extremist religious groups have always been a thorn in the side of LGBTQA+ people. They always want to take away our rights. They are not empathetic towards us in the least and they don’t even want to affirm our lives. Extremist religious groups are merciless toward LGBTQA+ folk.

I do want to clarify that non-extremist religious groups do not fall in the category I mentioned before. Many religious groups solidly support us as one would think a proper religious group would do. These individuals surely are Disciples of Christ or whichever God they follow. And, they do practice what they preach. My heart and love go out to these folks, as does my gratitude for their support.

The radical religious groups, however, are another story. They want to keep us down. They want to overturn any and every law that protects trans people and LGBTQ+ people. How do we stop them in their tracks? Don’t _ever_ vote Republican. Always vote Democrat. Now, I know there are people who say that the Democrats and the Republicans are the same and neither are any good and to them, that is probably so. Me? I can see a huge difference between Democrats and Republicans in just the way each treats our community.

I feel more at ease knowing that Democrats in power will watch my back as opposed to Republicans in power who will disregard my rights. I do realize that Republicans, (conservatives) and Democrats, (liberals) think differently. Even if you are a conservative LGBTQA+ person please think about the support the Democrats give us and the headaches that the Republicans put us through. If you identify as neither, Democrat nor Republican, then please think about the liberal support for LGBTQA+ people. The Democrats may not be perfect, but they are far better for LGBTQA+ persons than Republicans.

When I first registered to vote back in 1972, I registered as an Independent because I mistrusted both the Democrats and the Republicans. I remained Independent until I worked at a local factory that had a union, UAW to be exact. The company had put us in a strike situation and I remember working in the strike lines. The subject of politics came up and an old union member remarked “A working man has no business voting Republican!” I thought about what he said. I told him that I was Independent and he reminded me that I couldn’t legally vote in the primaries as an Independent. I thought about that too and I decided to re-register as Democrat. That old union member got through to me.

As I mentioned before, the Democratic party might not be the perfect party but they are definitely, hands down, better than the Republican party, especially when it comes to LGBTQ+ people. Please think about that the next time, and every time, you vote.

*Deja Nicole Greenlaw is a local trans woman who has three grown children, two grandchildren and is retired from 3M. She can be contacted at dejavudeja@sbcglobal.net.

 

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