The OLD Philosopher – John M. Miller
The April 6 edition of USA Today had a lengthy article about the alarming number of anti-LGBTQ bills that have been proposed in state legislatures. It said that lawmakers in 46 states have introduced 650 such bills in just the first three months of 2023. It is probably a safe guess that most of those bills have been proposed by Republicans, not Democrats.
In case readers of this essay are unfamiliar with those five letters of the alphabet, they refer to Lesbian Gay, Bisexual, Transexual, and Queer people. Everyone beyond the age of puberty knows what constitutes the first two categories, but the last three letters may need a brief explanation for some readers. Bisexuals are either males or females who have sexual inclinations toward those of the opposite sex but also toward their own sex. Transexuals are those who are born either male or female, but who feel as though they belong to the opposite sex, and they either or do not take measures to transfer to the other sex. In the current nomenclature (as opposed to the pejorative term of three or more decades ago), Queers are those who are consciously uncertain of their sexual orientation, and therefore they may try to sublimate their uncertainty for the rest of their lives.
The newspaper article referred to an organization called the Movement Advancement Project (MAP.) Its purpose is to promote a more educated and affirmative understanding of LGBTQs among the vast majority of people, who are heterosexual.
MAP’s research shows that more than 160 of the 650 2023 legislative bills are intended to overturn favorable measures that have been instituted in schools on behalf of LGBTQs. Further, MAP reports that more such legislation was proposed in the first three months of 2023 than from 2012 to 2015 combined.
Logan Casey, MAP’s senior policy adviser, said, “There are a range of reasons for the rise in these political attacks, including a deliberate misinformation campaign seeking political gains, which exploits that many people are still learning what it means to be transgender.” For the past few years, as more “trans people” have “come out of the closet,” they are the ones who have endured the most animosity at present, whereas in the past it was lesbians and gays who were subjected to cruel mistreatment.
What seems to be unrecognized by millions of people who are “naturally conservative” (whatever that term might mean) is that the sexual orientation of LGBTQs is determined by nature, just as some people may naturally be either conservative or liberal. LGBTQs are not the way they are by choice, any more than heterosexuals choose to be heterosexual. Sexual orientation is fundamentally determined by genetics, and not by a person’s conscious selection.
So is red hair. Nonetheless, because red hair is the least common color of hair for all the peoples of the earth, no one has a visceral, mental, or psychological opposition to redheads, even though the scarcity of that tonsorial coloration is obviously genetic.
Then why are so many conservatives so bent out of shape by those whose sexual orientation does not match their own? I think it is because conservatives, more than liberals, want everyone to be as they are. Sexual “otherness” is more likely to be personally offensive to “natural conservatives” than it is to “natural liberals.”
Furthermore, conservatives appear to be personally more threatened by otherness than liberals. Liberals are more apt to accept the otherness of others, perhaps because they (liberals) may be more likely to perceive themselves as bundles of contradictions. At least that’s how this liberal bundle of contradictions sees it.
I also think conservatives are more likely than liberals to ignore the feelings of those they oppose. Besides LGBTQs, the issues of abortion, same-sex marriage, the poor, the sick, the congenitally unmotivated, and migrants come to mind.
Whether or not those observations are accurate, it definitely is accurate that the ever-widening spate of hate legislation toward LGBTQs is being sponsored almost exclusively by Republican legislators. Probably their primary motivation is that they see their opposition to liberal positions on social issues as a means toward success in future elections, especially because of that part of the Republican base who were and still are enthralled by Donald Trump. There must be a network of Trump-inspired ultra-conservative social legislation with exactly the same wording making the rounds of state capitols. The USA Today story listed eight different types of proposals which target LGBTQs, particularly in school settings.
Recently I was anonymously given a copy of Ron DeSantis’s thin-in-every-respect campaign tome. Presumably it is a prelude to the inevitable announcement that he will begin his candidacy for the GOP nomination as president in the 2024 primary elections. Like many other conservatives, he seems obsessed with LGBTQ issues, among numerous other peculiar and alarming obsessions.
I cannot believe that all those in the Republican Party who are so intent on bashing the small minority of LGBTQ Americans are truly philosophically or viscerally opposed to them. However, the would-be candidates among them calculate they must voice disapproval in order to win their next election. Funny thing: continuing support for Donald J. Trump also appears to be an educated (or is it an uneducated?) wager for Republican politicians to succeed at the polls in 2024. (Incidentally, if you’re a Democrat and you detest indigestion, don’t purchase The Courage to Be Free: Florida’s Blueprint for America’s Revival. There aren’t enough Tums to overcome your gastric distress.)
Most Republicans, like the great majority of all other humans anywhere in the world, are not heartless. But all Republicans are gutless who do speak out against the heartlessness of anti- LGBTQ legislation being sent to the dockets of state and national legislative bodies.
The worst GOP decision is to be heartless in writing legislation and gutsy in promoting it. There’s far too much of that going around right now A woman from Georgia is even more strident in that department than a man from Florida.
When it comes time vote, look toward the political left, not the political right. That way, you won’t deliberately leave anyone out. - April 8, 2023
John Miller is Pastor of The Chapel Without Walls on Hilton Head Island, SC. More of his writings may be viewed at www.chapelwithoutwalls.org.