These diatribes by elected officials aren’t just isolated tantrums that remain in a vacuum. When people in power define queerness or transness as mental illnesses, it acts as a justification for rolling back the hard-won autonomy of LGBTQ+ people to be in control of their own careers, relationships, bodies, families, and beyond. If government officials can successfully convince the public that queer people do not have the mental capacities to control their own lives, it makes it much easier for the government to enact policies that restrict the decisions queer people can make for themselves, which is why it’s a widespread political strategy on the right.
The shit thing is that even if there is a massive blue wave in November, Trump legislates from the Oval Office, and the Supreme Court backs him up. The rhetoric will continue to be dialed up, as the republicans abject failure at governing becomes more apparent to their supporters.
