The day the United States Constitution was signed, Benjamin Franklin was approached by a young woman, Elizabeth Willing Powel, while walking along South Third Street in Philadelphia. “Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic, or a monarchy?” Powel asked. Franklin’s answer: “A republic, if you can keep it.” The good doctor’s words of caution should carry particular weight in the fraught political climate in which we find ourselves.
235 years after that memorable exchange, our ability to preserve this democratic republic hangs in the balance. This is even more true for we, the LGBTQ+ people of America. As 5.5% of the US population, our fate goes hand-in-hand with the way our country votes. Never in the history of our small but vibrant community have we stood on such unstable ground.
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Yes, it’s true that in our long journey of slow progress, we’ve existed as a marginalized, underground, often reviled, and historically criminalized group. Nevertheless, in times fair or foul, we still existed, and in recent years, we even began to thrive.
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This time around, whether we thrive — or have the right to exist at all — is an open question. That’s not hyperbole; Project 2025, the GOP’s 1,000-page operating manual for a possible second Trump presidency, takes direct aim at LGBTQ+ rights.
The plan includes ending marriage equality, insisting that “only heterosexual, two-parent families are safe for children”, removing protections for LGBTQ+ individuals in law and federal policy, and expelling trans men and women from military service. That’s only a small sample of the pantheon of barbaric actions the GOP—and a Trump-led White House — are prepared to carry out in their nightmare vision for the United States.
That’s all in addition to candidate Trump’s own hatemongering words, which he has vomited forth on the campaign trail from coast to coast. Consider his false assertion that American children are getting gender transition surgery at school, amplifying the GOP’s wild claims that schools are forcing kids to become transgender and helping minors transition without parental consent.
Or, more tellingly, the Trump campaign’s nearly $20 million ad buy attacking trans people, who just want to live as they truly are. Also, Kamala’s pledge to ensure that prison inmates will get “medically necessary” gender-affirming care or surgery while incarcerated is already mandated by federal law, and Trump followed the same law while he was in office.
Notable figures within the LGBTQ+ community have made very clear the dangers of a second Trump presidency.
Acclaimed actor, vocalist, activist, and podcast host Tym Moss reminded us that immediately after Trump’s 2017 inauguration, “Everything on the official website of the White House mentioning LGBT and our rights had been removed and remained removed throughout his term.”
Former CNN anchor Don Lemon stated firmly that “Kamala Harris is on the side of democracy,” highlighting her opponent’s fascistic campaign themes.
Upper Darby, Pennsylvania Councilor Jess Branas, who won a historic victory that made her the first-ever out lesbian on the Council, warned, “The future of LGBTQIA+ rights under a resurrected Trump presidency is a horrific thought. Not only will our community cease to have rights on how we live and who we love, but will have a great impact on if we receive healthcare, job opportunities, and housing. Unfortunately, I feel as if those in our community will be considered sub-par citizens that Trump and his supporters will vilify and violate every ounce of our being.”
Bishop Kevin E. Taylor, a pastor and longtime LGBTQ+ community leader, put it in his own eloquent manner: “Today is the first day of ‘YESVEMBER’, not November. I am hopeful, thoughtful and prayerful that the LGBTQ community, the Black community, the Puerto Rican community, the feminist community, the members of the differently abled communities and so many other people of sound reason and sense, will mobilize, as we already have with early elections, to send a loud and resounding voice that Trump is finished.”
The pastor, who directs the North Jersey Community Research Initiative (NJCRI), underscored the role of bias in Trump’s platform. “This racist, homophobic, sexist, xenophobic criminal will not have the seat of power to try to further divide his nation!”
Given that Trump was awarded absolute immunity from prosecution as President, it is more than possible that, like the “migrants” he so publicly despises, roundups of LGBTQ+ people are not far behind in a Trump dictatorship. Consider Trump’s hideous orgy of hatred at Madison Square Garden on October 27, or his repeated, escalating attacks against LGBTQ+ people, especially trans individuals, right up to his closing campaign statement?
We should certainly prepare for the dark possibility of a second Trump presidency, which we know would be even further from normal than the first and during which we would all live in peril. However, we’re still living in a democracy as of now. You have the power to shape our coming days. This Election Day is the most important day of our lives. With your vote, you can refute the maelstrom of tyranny Trump promises. You can turn the nightmare into a dream as we elect Kamala Harris, a superlative, groundbreaking candidate and a true ally, to the highest office in our land. You can reaffirm our right to exist and thrive as we authentically are. It’s all within your reach.
See you at the polls.
Nathan James is a longtime LGBTQ advocate, journalist, and political commentator. A Democrat, he was elected Judge Of Election in Philadelphia, PA in 2021.
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