Sticks And Stones Will…

Unfortunately, the guy who wrote that proverb wasn’t a minority because he would have known that words do hurt and can injure or even kill a person. Self-harm thoughts are increasing in states that are anti-LGBTQ, also an increase in depression is seen in states like Texas, Florida, and in other Republican controlled states.

In addition we see an increase in anti-LGBTQ violence around the country.

Amid push of anti-LBGTQ laws, right-wing hate groups target Pride, drag events
Yahoo News
Christopher Wilson·Senior Writer
June 14, 2022


Right-wing hate organizations targeted multiple LGBTQ events over the weekend, as Republican politicians and conservative media continue to target the community.

Besides the 31 arrested in Idaho the article reports,

Over the last two years, in an anti-LGBTQ push from conservatives. Republicans across the country have passed laws banning transgender youth from participating in sports and have attempted to purge books by LGBTQ authors from schools and libraries. In Texas, GOP leadership has attempted to make it illegal for parents to seek gender-affirming care for trans youth. Some have argued that the anti-trans bills are an attempt to lock in the white evangelical vote for this fall’s midterm elections. There is also concern among advocates that once abortion rights have been rolled back, activists will turn their attention to getting rid of same-sex marriage.

I think that the writer got this right, “Some have argued that the anti-trans bills are an attempt to lock in the white evangelical vote for this fall’s midterm elections.” that all this hate is stir up their white supremacist and evangelical Christian base to get out and vote but also donate to the party. I also think that with Roe v Wade overturned we are next on the chopping block.

On the day of the arrests in Idaho, members of the Proud Boys entered a “Drag Queen Story Hour” at the San Lorenzo Public Library in the San Francisco Bay Area. In a statement posted to Facebook, the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office wrote, “A group of 5 men entered the library and disrupted the reading event. The men were described as members of the Proud Boys organization, known to be a right wing hate group with anti-LGBTQ affiliations.”

[…]

Cellphone video of the men shows one wearing a shirt that reads, “Kill your local pedophile,” a continued homophobic attack categorizing queer Americans as predators. The host of the event, Kyle Chu — also known as drag queen Panda Dulce — told KPIX 5, “I've always received death threats, hate mail for doing Drag Queen Story Hour. This time it felt very close to violence.

All this hate and violence creates fear in the community… Will I be safe going to the library to hear a drag queen read to a child? Will I be safe going to a Pride event? Will I be safe going to a gay bar? Will I be safe in Provincetown?

That is what all these anti-LGBTQ hate groups want, to create fear and force us back in the closet.

We have seen this before.

• In Russia.
• In Poland.
• In Hungary.
• In the 1930s Germany.

We see this wherever fascism is growing, including here in the United States where authoritarianism is increasing around the nation with one party systems.