One constant of Republican politics is the need for someone to hate and fear. The specifics change, but the basic dynamic is always there: There’s a migrant caravan, a “China virus,” a Democratic politician to be locked up, teachers who dare to talk about race. This year—and this LGBTQIA+ Pride Month in particular—Republicans have been targeting LGBTQ+ people with all the hatred they can muster. And, disgustingly, it’s working. Sort of.
In the states, Republicans have passed law after law banning things like drag performances, health care for trans kids, and even mentioning LGBTQ+ people in the schools. They worked themselves up about Pride flags on the White House and then proposed a federal ban on any flag on federal buildings other than the U.S. flag and a list of others long enough to make clear it really was all about the Pride flag. They threatened employees in stores with Pride displays and did their best to boycott businesses showing support for LGBTQ+ people. Republican presidential candidates like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis have used attacks on trans kids or teachers who mention LGBTQ+ people in class to further their own ambitions. (There is almost no Republican culture war that can’t be located in the schools and used as an attack on teachers.)
Republicans are trying to heighten the danger of being an LGBTQ+ person in this country, because it suits their partisan need for a capital-E Enemy.
According to a Washington Post article on this phenomenon, “The attacks also coincide with signs of a shift in public opinion, with opposition to LGBTQ+ rights rising again, especially among Republicans, polling shows.” But saying “especially among Republicans” is underselling it. The Gallup poll the Post points to as its top piece of evidence shows a 15-point plunge in the percentage of Republicans saying “gay or lesbian relations are morally acceptable.” That 15-point plunge happened in a single year, from 2022 to 2023.
The 41% of Republicans currently answering yes to this question is the lowest since 2014. Democrats also dropped, from 85% to 79%, but that 85% was an all-time high, with 78% answering yes to the question in 2020 and 81% in 2021. The 56% of Republicans who said LGBTQ relationships were morally acceptable in 2022 represented an all-time high, but the number had been 51% for the two previous years. (Support among independents, by the way, ticked up an insignificant amount from 72% to 73%, showing again that it’s Republicans who are out of step with the country.)
A drop to 41% is a big change, and when it coincides with this kind of sustained attack on LGBTQ+ rights, you can’t say it’s a coincidence.
Analytically, you can look at what’s going on and understand that this isn’t even mostly about the people under attack. It’s about Republicans having an other to define themselves against, which politicians can tell the base they’re protecting them from. But that doesn’t make the harm to the people under attack any less real.
