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Fighting 21st Century Fascism

101: Anti-LGBTQ Organizing

Heron Greenesmith
Published on
June 27, 2022
Last Updated
August 3, 2023
101: Anti-LGBTQ Organizing

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This resource is Part 1 in a series. Go here for Part 2 (Combating Anti-Transgender Disinformation).

Anti-LGBTQ advocacy, led by the Christian Right and Generically used to describe factions of right-wing politics that are outside of and often critical of traditional conservatism. Learn more online communities, is woven into nearly every sector of the contemporary U.S. Right. With the ascent of the Trump administration, as the Christian Right gained considerable power to influence local, state, and federal policy, anti-LGBTQ advocacy once again became a rallying point around which various factors of the Right allied themselves. Christian Right organizations, right-wing internet and media, and anti-transgender feminists and gender critical activists leverage anti-LGBTQ rhetoric to inform local, state, and federal laws and lawmakers. These groups deliberately use anti-LGBTQ advocacy to mobilize supporters, influence policy, and gain control of government institutions like school boards and public health departments. This work opens the door for larger right-wing coalitions to criminalize abortion, defund healthcare and public schools, and limit voting rights. Anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and legislation has tangible impacts on the lives of An umbrella acronym standing for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer or questioning. Learn more people across the U.S., motivating The act of favoring members of one community/social identity over another, impacting health, prosperity, and political participation. Learn more , harassment, physical assault, and homicide.  



This 101 explains the who and the what of modern anti-LGBTQ advocacy. For more information and to read further on all of the topics below, see the reading list at the end.

WhoThese are the sectors of the Right setting the cultural context and organizing against LGBTQ people, rights, and equality.
Christian Right

Christian Right advocacy organizations like the Alliance Defending Freedom, the Heritage Foundation, and the Family Policy Alliance are funded by billionaires like Betsy Devos and the Wilks Brothers. 


These organizations are: writing model legislation and coordinating anti-LGBTQ legislators through coalitions like the Promise to America’s Children; funding and supporting lawsuits to undermine LGBTQ-inclusive legislation and bolster anti-LGBTQ legislation; and providing the larger anti-LGBTQ movement with ideas and arguments to support their goals. See, for example, the Christian Right’s drafting of and support for laws that bar transgender girls and Learn more people from competing in school sports.

Far-Right Online Communities and Right-Wing MediaFar-right online communities spread anti-LGBTQ misinformation through online forums and social media, and are amplified by more widely-consumed right-wing outlets like Fox News that rely on outrageous stories to drive ad revenue. This disinformation takes the form of bad-faith campaigns, memes, doxxing, and outright propaganda. See, for example, Fox News’ continual coverage of anti-trans sports bills, while it fails to cover more important issues to women’s sports like underfunding and sexual violence.
Gender Critical & Anti-Trans FeministsAnti-trans feminist and gender critical organizations are platformed by other sectors of the anti-LGBTQ Right to give their advocacy the appearance of a broader base of bipartisan support than it actually has. See, for example, the platforming of anti-transgender feminists to justify banning transgender and nonbinary students from school sports.

What

These are common issue areas for anti-LGBTQ organizing. Together, these issues cover nearly every area of life for LGBTQ people, showing the impacts of anti-LGBTQ advocacy.
Conversion Therapy A neutral term used to describe someone or something, such as in law, as non-religious in character. Learn more , or non-religious, conversion therapists wrongly claim to be able to change someone’s gender identity and sexual orientation. Religious conversion therapy organizations and practitioners continue to operate out of the reach of state attempts to bar conversion therapy.
DefamationAnti-LGBTQ leaders use inflammatory rhetoric to libel and slander LGBTQ people. For example, falsely labeling LGBTQ people “groomers” to imply that they are seeking inappropriate sexual relationships with children. Defamation has been used by the Right to attack LGBTQ people for more than fifty years.
EducationLocal and state lawmakers are pushing legislation to ban the discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity in state-funded schools. These laws attempt to outlaw the teaching of LGBTQ historical figures and comprehensive sexual education, and sometimes even forbid referring to a student’s, teacher’s, or other staff member’s own sexual orientation or gender identity.
Health CareAnti-LGBTQ advocates attack health care access for LGBTQ people, particularly transgender and nonbinary people, through legislation, litigation, nonscientific research, and public messaging campaigns. The Christian Right advocates for A concept used by conservative evangelicals and Roman Catholic bishops to justify exempting private individuals, organizations, and institutions from the rule of law, frequently around laws that prohibit discrimination, require recognition of LGBTQ people, or support reproductive healthcare, but often also laws governing labor and pension rights. Learn more for health care providers to deny service to LGBTQ people and their families.
FacilitiesAnti-LGBTQ advocates seek to restrict LGBTQ people’s access to bathrooms, changing rooms, and other facilities, causing severe physical health problems and fostering harassment and discrimination.
SportsAnti-transgender organizations coordinate to bar transgender and nonbinary students from participating in school sports. Some legislation permits or requires athletes competing on girls teams to undergo invasive genital examinations in order to participate in scholastic athletics.

 

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Authors

Heron Greenesmith

Heron Greenesmith, Esq. is the former Senior Research Analyst for An umbrella acronym standing for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer or questioning. Learn more justice here at PRA and a policy attorney with over a decade of LGBTQ advocacy experience. Currently the Deputy Director of Policy at the A term used for someone whose gender is not (exclusively) the one they were assigned at birth. Learn more Law Center, Heron is also adjunct faculty at Boston University School of Law and an Editorial Board Member at the Bulletin of Applied Trans Studies. They are a co-founder of BiLaw and the Polyamory Legal Advocacy Coalition, and live in Boston.
Heron Greenesmith

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