This past Halloween got a lot spookier ever since Amy Coney Barrett was sworn in by Trump to become the next justice on the highest court of the United States. Even the dying wish of one of America’s most loved and respected SCOTUS judges (RBG) couldn’t deter Trump from swearing Coney Barrett in before election day—much to the chagrin of many Americans.
One of the first cases Amy Coney Barrett has presided over on the Supreme Court was Fulton v. City of Philadelphia, a case that, according to a source at Vice, could spell a serious defeat for LGBTQ Americans and a win for far-right religious organizations.
With the presidential election only a few days away, it’s no surprise that most LGBTQ Americans are feeling pretty nervous right now. Will we have to survive Trump for another four years? Let’s hope, chant, pray, and cast spells—whatever you witchy people do to keep him out of office. The good news is that Biden has a solid plan for queer folks.
The Democratic candidate and former vice president to Barack Obama has sworn that once elected, he’ll protect LGBTQ Americans by passing The Equality Act, a piece of legislation that will enable our communities to live freely and openly without fear of discrimination in the public sphere.
According to the HRC’s website, the equality act would provide all-encompassing protections for queer Americans in multiple different areas of public life including: “employment, housing, credit, education, public spaces and services, federally funded programs, and jury service.” These are basic fundamental rights that every queer American deserves to have equal access to. As we reported earlier this year, Virginia passed a similar bill making it illegal for a Virginia resident to be fired or denied housing based on their gender identity or sexual orientation.
Recently, Biden discussed his strategy to work for the LGBTQ population and overturning the terrible Trump-Pence legacy on gay rights in an email interview with a well-known advocated named Mark Segal, publisher to Philadelphia Gay News. Some of the protections Biden discussed include elder care for older LGBTQ individuals through the passage of the Ruthie and Connie LGBT Elder Americans Act.
During the conversation with Segal, Biden vowed that he would “make enactment of the Equality Act a top legislative priority - a priority that Donald Trump opposes” and he even set a date for the action: 100 days and this legislation would be propelled forward. He went on to say, “this is essential to ensuring that no future president can ever again roll back civil rights and protections for LGBTQ+ individuals, including when it comes to housing.”
During this conversation, he also discussed the serious issue of violence against transgender people across the nation and pledged his support to protecting and fighting for this vulnerable population. He said, “Violence against transgender and gender non-conforming people, particularly Black and Brown transgender women, is an epidemic that needs national leadership.”
During the talk, Biden also outlined his plans to fight for LGBTQ rights and equality internationally as well. He discussed his plans to work with the UN and use diplomatic tools and even sanctions to fight against human rights violations globally and champion and protect outspoken U.S. diplomats working towards LGBTQ equality in nations that are dangerous for queer people to live in.
Not surprisingly, and as we’ve seen before with the Trump administration’s support of Catholic Social Services, a religious organization that openly discriminated against LGBTQ families hoping to adopt, it comes at no surprise that Trump would oppose the Equality Act, and has opposed it for some time now. He first declared his opposition towards it on May 14, 2019. This orange-haired creature doesn’t change his stripes.
In fact, during his term in office, Trump has filed several amicus briefs to SCOTUS that directly discriminate against the LGBTQ population, including one to legalize discrimination against LGBTQ individuals in the workplace. It makes you wonder why anyone who is LGBTQ, would consider voting for Trump, or what he was thinking, creating the "Trump Pride Advisory Board" as part of his re-election campaign--does he really think we're that stupid?
Hopefully, Biden's message for equality will help you get some sleep in the tense days leading up to the election.