US Voters Want Real Economic Solutions, Not Attacks on LGBTQ Rights

Out of touch politicians across the nation have spent years ramping up increasingly divisive rhetoric meant to curry favor with a small but vocal contingent of extremists among their base. But as we celebrate Pride month, there are growing signs that Americans are losing patience with their obsession with ideological culture wars rather than improving the lives of hard-working families.

Nowhere is this more clear than the onslaught of anti-LGBTQ political attacks in recent years.

Politicians have successfully stoked fear to rationalize the introduction of hundreds upon hundreds of extreme and restrictive bills, rolling back LGBTQ people’s civil rights in states across the country. Anti-LGBTQ politicians have promoted misinformation to convince voters that we should be afraid of people who are different from us. This fear has pitted parents against teachers and doctors, business leaders against their employees, and neighbors against neighbors.

But the fringe groups behind this extremist campaign have now overplayed their hand.

This year will be a critical inflection point: Will we continue working to build a more unified nation, where everyone can enjoy basic rights and freedoms, or regress into fear and division?

Poll after poll demonstrates that American voters want their elected officials to prioritize fundamental economic issues, from inflation and the cost of healthcare to quality education and job opportunities.

Millions of Americans have seen firsthand that anti-LGBTQ bills didn’t solve these problems; they only eroded civil rights and freedom.

So although hundreds of anti-LGBTQ bills have again been introduced in 2024 legislative sessions, they simply aren’t passing at the breakneck speed we saw last year. Parents, experts, faith leaders, and more are speaking out to defeat attacks on quality education and healthcare. Communities across the South turned out to put a stop to anti-transgender legislation in the same statehouses that these bills sailed through last year, and courts from Texas to Ohio are rejecting government interference in the private lives of transgender people and their families. Even in some of the most historically anti-LGBTQ states like ours, public appetite for anti-LGBTQ attacks is clearly waning.

Rather than heed the writing on the wall and shift focus to the issues their constituents actually care about, some far-right officials have doubled down in a last-ditch effort to retain power. Where they failed to pass attacks through our democratic processes, they’re shamelessly weaponizing state agencies to attack LGBTQ+ people directly.

Florida’s Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles has threatened transgender Floridians with criminal and civil penalties simply for having a driver’s license that matches their gender. Attorneys general in conservative states are working overtime to seize private medical records from clinics supporting families with transgender youth, infringing on their privacy and confidential healthcare decisions. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has even demanded private information about patients in states outside his own, tried to investigate parents of transgender kids, and threatened to remove kids from parents following expert guidance on transgender medical care. And both Florida and Texas have filed lawsuits attempting to defy the U.S. Department of Education’s new rules that protect transgender students from discrimination.

Voters are taking note. Increasingly, communities recognize these power-hungry, mean-spirited politicians are more concerned about making headlines than solving real issues. We need real leaders who bring people together and fight for freedom and prosperity, while leaving the political stunts behind.

Most Americans just want to live their lives without worrying about politicians invading their child’s classrooms, doctors’ appointments, and soccer fields.

This year will be a critical inflection point: Will we continue working to build a more unified nation, where everyone can enjoy basic rights and freedoms, or regress into fear and division?

When politicians preach liberty and freedom, we must take a closer look to decipher whether they truly want these rights for everyone or for only a select few. Only by learning to identify and reject dishonest political tactics can we defeat fear and division. When we vote with knowledge and compassion, instead of fear, we move closer to the society that Americans truly want to see.