One week ago, there was a brawl outside a California public school as those inside debated a resolution proclaiming June as LGBTQ+ Pride Month. In five states — California, Utah, Arizona, Nebraska and Pennsylvania — pride flags have been stolen, slashed or burned, driven in part by a new online hashtag urging people to vandalize Pride flags. Yet another major corporation, Starbucks, is allegedly removing Pride-themed decorations from stores out of safety concerns (though the company officially denies this is happening). A weekslong boycott of Bud Light after the company posted an ad with Dylan Mulvaney, a trans influencer, has seen the brand’s sales fall so dramatically that it is no longer the No. 1 selling beer in America. Anti-LGTBQ+ hate crimes are on the rise.
And perhaps most importantly, in numerous Republican-dominated state legislatures, anti-gay legislation has been enacted, running the gamut from prohibitions on gender-affirming therapies for kids to bans on drag events and discussions of gender identities in public schools. Epithets of “groomer” and “pedophile” are now regularly hurled at Democratic politicians who support gay rights.
Polling shows little evidence of a reversal in public opinion when it comes to support for LGBT rights.
After several years in which the political debate around gay rights subsided, and Pride marches and Pride Month celebrations became largely uncontroversial affairs, it would seem that the United States is in the midst of a nationwide backlash on an issue that appeared to be settled.
And yet, despite the GOP’s devastating bigotry, mainstream acceptance of gay Americans has never been stronger. Polling shows little evidence of a reversal in public opinion when it comes to support for LGBT rights. The anti-Pride backlash is a largely ginned up controversy, fanned and flamed by Republican politicians seeking political advantage by playing on the fears of their most grievance-filled supporters.
A Gallup poll from earlier this month tells the tale. A record 71% of Americans now support same-sex marriage. Polling from just last year shows that 8 in 10 Americans oppose anti-gay discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodations (and that includes nearly two-thirds of Republicans).
In Congress, last year’s landmark Respect for Marriage Act, which provided federal protection for same-sex marriages, was supported by 12 Republican senators and 39 GOP House members (along with every Democrat in both chambers). In the 2022 election, Republican candidates in blue and purple states who ran on a message of hostility to LGBTQ+ rights, particularly anti-transgender ads, fared poorly.
Indeed, it was not long ago that open and public homophobia was as frowned upon as public displays of racism and misogyny. So what changed?
Quite simply, Republican politicians saw a political opening. Beginning in 2021, they launched a full-throated assault on trans rights and gender-affirming health care for kids. The trans issue quickly became a stalking horse for anti-gay bigots, who have long called the GOP their political home. Having largely kept their homophobia in check, because of prevailing social norms, they received tacit permission from Republicans to leave their closets and broaden their attacks to gay rights writ large.
The focus on trans kids has become a GOP stalking horse for Republican voters focused on “traditional values.” According to Evan Wolfson — a longtime gay rights activist and founder of Freedom To Marry, which advocates for same-sex marriage — while trans issues are not as well understood by the broader public as an issue like same-sex marriage, the GOP’s “attacks on trans people is just part of the overall stoking of division and resentment.” “There’s really nothing organic about it,” says Wolfson “It’s an engineered political attack” that is reliant on a familiar playbook. “Trying to gin up people’s fearfulness.” Indeed, the focus on trans kids has become a GOP stalking horse for Republican voters focused on “traditional values.” Consider some of the recent public boycotts of “woke” corporations. The department store Kohl’s was attacked for selling baby onesies on their website, one of which read “Happy Pride” and another featured a Pride flag. Neither of these representations directly relates to trans issues — and one might imagine that for the hundreds of thousands of same-sex parents, such clothes would seem particularly appropriate. Rather, the issue for boycotters seems to be the company’s willingness to show respect for LGBTQ+ Americans. The same goes for calls to boycott Target for having Pride decorations in their stores. Both have little to do with protecting trans kids but everything to do with the hatred of gay people and what their acceptance in American society represents. And it’s doubtful that any of this would be happening without the cheerleading of Republicans. Wolfson, for one, resists the argument that America is moving in the opposite direction on gay rights. “You have a rump minority that is wielding disproportionate power. This is not a reflection of public opinion.” Red-state politicians push anti-gay legislation both because it’s popular with their most engaged constituents, and because they have little fear of an electoral backlash led by pro-gay rights voters. Polarization has insulated them from accountability. So like abortion and voting rights, gay rights have become yet another issue that magnifies the growing blue state/red state divide in which where you live increasingly determines how many rights you have. The daily stories of anti-Pride actions are depressing, even if they represent a vocal minority. And the right-wing backlash suggests that there is still work to be done, says Wolfson. “Gay activists have to be part of a concerted effort at fixing democracy and getting out the vote,” he says. “Engaging hearts and minds, telling our stories, communicating empathy and values.” As long as there are minority groups in America and there are politicians willing to play on people’s fears and grievances of social and cultural change, there will be a need for those to push back against it.
Michael Cohen is an MSNBC columnist. He is also the publisher of the newsletter Truth and Consequences and hosts the weekly podcast That ‘70s Movie Podcast. 
