51吃瓜

One day when I was about six, I was walking with my dad in New York City. We noticed that someone had stuck little folded squares of paper under the windshield wipers of the cars parked on the street beside us. My father picked one up and read it. I saw his face grow dark with anger.

鈥淲hat is it, Papa?鈥�

鈥淚t鈥檚 a message from people who think that all Jews should be killed.鈥�

In the late 1950s, the Nazi extermination of millions of Jews in Europe was still fresh in the American consciousness. Not a good season for sowing murderous antisemitism in lower Manhattan. As the daughter of a Jewish father and a gentile mother, I was a demi-semite and worried. I knew that these people wanted to kill my father, but with a typical child-centered focus, I wanted to know whether the gentile half of my heredity would protect me in the event of a new Holocaust.

鈥淲ould they kill me, too?鈥� I asked.

Yes, he told me, they would if they could. But he then reassured me that such people would never have the power to do what they wanted. It couldn鈥檛 happen here.

I must admit that I鈥檓 grateful my father died before Donald Trump became president. Before tiki-torch-bearing Nazi wannabes seeking to 鈥淯nite the Right鈥� through Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017, chanting, 鈥淛ews will not replace us!鈥� Before one of them drove his car into a crowd of counter-demonstrators, Heather Heyer. I am glad he did not witness President Trump’s to the event, declaring that 鈥測ou also had people that were very fine people, on both sides.鈥�

Are queer people the new Jews?

Maybe the grubby little group behind the tracts my father and I saw that day in New York would have let me live. Maybe not. In those days, home-grown fascists were rare and didn鈥檛 have that kind of power.

Now, however, there鈥檚 a new extermination campaign stalking this country that would include me among its targets: the right-wing Republican against 鈥渟exual predators鈥� and 鈥済roomers,鈥� by which they mean people. In this article, I will keep things simple by using 鈥淟GBT鈥� or 鈥渜ueer鈥� to indicate this varied collection of Americans who are presently a prime target of the right wing in this country.

You may think using the term  鈥渆xtermination campaign鈥� is a radical way to describe the set of public pronouncements, laws and regulations addressing the existence of queer people here. Sadly, I disagree. Ambitious would-be Republican presidential candidates across the country, from Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to the less-known governor of North Dakota, Doug Burgum, are using anti-queer legislation to bolster their primary campaigns. 

For Florida, it started in July 2022 with DeSantis鈥檚 Parental Rights in Education Act, better known as his 鈥淒on鈥檛 Say Gay鈥� law. This law that in the state鈥檚 public schools, 鈥淐lassroom instruction by school personnel or third parties on sexual orientation or gender identity may not occur in kindergarten through grade 3 or in a manner that is not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards.鈥�

In April 2023, DeSantis doubled down, signing a new extending the ban through high school. Florida teachers at every level now risk losing their jobs and credentials if they violate the new law. And queer kids, who are already at elevated of depression and suicide, have been deprived of the kind of affirming space that, research shows, dramatically those possibilities.

Is Florida an outlier? Not really. Other states have followed its lead in restricting mentions of sexual orientation or gender identity in their public schools. By February of this year, 42 such had been introduced in 22 states, creating a wave of queer .

But the attacks against queer people go beyond banning any discussion of gayness in public schools. We鈥檙e also witnessing a national campaign against trans and non-binary people that, in effect, aims to eliminate such human beings, whether by their existence or the medical care they need. This campaign began with a focus on trans youth but has since widened to include trans and non-binary people of all ages.

As of 2023, seven states have laws allowing or requiring public school teachers to refuse to use students鈥� preferred pronouns if they don鈥檛 match their official sex. This behavior is called 鈥渕isgendering鈥� and is more than a common courtesy violation. It denies another person鈥檚 existence and can have a lethal effect. Such repudiation of trans and non-binary young people significantly increases their chances of committing suicide.

It also increases the chances that their non-queer peers will treat them with disrespect and contempt that could prove lethal. It certainly increases their chances of becoming targets of violence. In 2022, for example, CBS News that 鈥渢he number of trans people who were murdered in the US nearly doubled between 2017 and 2021.鈥� It鈥檚 no accident that this increase correlates with high-profile political and legal attacks on trans people. Sadly, but not surprisingly, race hatred has also played a role in many deaths. While Blacks represent about 13% of trans and non-binary people, they accounted for almost three-quarters of those murder victims.

Laws allowing or even requiring misgendering in classrooms are, however, only the beginning. Next is denying trans kids, and ultimately trans adults, medical care. As of June 1st of this year, according to the national LGBT rights organization Human Rights Campaign, 20 states already gender-affirmative medical care for trans youth up to age 18. Another seven states now have such bans under consideration.

What is 鈥済ender affirmative鈥� medical care? the World Health Organization, it 鈥渃an include any single or combination of several social, psychological, behavioral or medical (including hormonal treatment or surgery) interventions designed to support and affirm an individual鈥檚 gender identity.鈥� In other words, it鈥檚 the kind of attention needed by people whose gender identity does not align in some way with the sex assigned to them at birth.

What does it mean to deprive a trans person of such care? It can prove to be a death sentence.

A new landslide of laws that harm queer people

It may be difficult to imagine this if you aren鈥檛 living with , a constant disorienting and debilitating alienation from one鈥檚 body. Studies show that proper healthcare reduces suicidal thoughts and attempts, along with other kinds of psychological distress. Furthermore, adolescents who begin to receive such care are less likely to be depressed, suicidal or involved in harmful drug use later in life. As Dr. Deanna Adkins, director of the Duke Child and Adolescent Gender Care Clinic at Duke University Hospital, , young people who receive the gender-affirming care they need 鈥渁re happier, less depressed and less anxious. Their schoolwork often improves, their safety often improves.鈥� And, she says, 鈥淪aving their lives is a big deal.鈥�

Denial of life-saving care may start with young people. But the real future right-wing agenda is to deny such health care to everyone who needs it, whatever their ages鈥攊n April 2023, the New York Times that Florida and six other states had already banned Medicaid coverage for gender-affirming care. Missouri has banned most such care outright, no matter who鈥檚 paying for it.

And the attacks on queer people just keep coming. In May 2023, the Human Rights Campaign anti-queer bills introduced and passed in this year alone:

• Over 520 anti-LGBT bills have been introduced in state legislatures.
• Over 220 bills specifically target transgender and non-binary people.
• A record 74 anti-LGBT laws have been enacted so far this year, including:
  • 16 Laws banning gender-affirming care for transgender youth.
  • 7 Laws requiring or allowing misgendering of transgender students.
  • 2 Laws targeting drag performances.
  • 3 Laws creating a license to discriminate.
  • 13 Laws censoring school curricula, including books.

We鈥檙e not paranoid. The right wing in the USA does want us to disappear.

Anti-gay campaigns in Africa: made in the USA

Though they鈥檙e starting to say the quiet part out loud, even in this country, they鈥檝e been much less careful in Africa for decades.

Among right-wing Christians in the United States, publically the execution of LGBT individuals is not uncommon. In a that went viral on TikTok last June, Pastor Joe Jones of Sheild of Faith Baptist Church in Boise, Idaho, called for the execution of all gay people. Local NBC and CBS TV stations and some national affiliates saw fit to amplify Jones鈥檚 demand to 鈥減ut them to death. Put all queers to death鈥� by interviewing him in prime time.

In keeping with right-wing propaganda that treats queer people as child predators, Jones sees killing gays as the key to preventing the sexual abuse of children. 鈥淲hen they die,鈥� he said, 鈥渢hat stops the pedophilia. It鈥檚 a very, very simple process.鈥� The is that most sexual abuse of children involves male perpetrators and girl victims and happens inside families.

Though American 鈥淐hristians鈥� like Jones may be years away from instituting the death penalty for queer people here, if ever, they have already been far more successful in Africa. On May 29th, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni signed perhaps the world鈥檚 harshest anti-LGBT law. It criminalized all homosexual activity, providing the death penalty for 鈥渟erial offenders鈥� and, according to , for the 鈥渢ransmission of a terminal illness like HIV/AIDS through gay sex.鈥� It also 鈥渄ecrees a 20-year sentence for 鈥榩romoting鈥� homosexuality.鈥�

While Uganda鈥檚 new anti-gay law may be the most extreme on the continent, more than 30 other African countries already outlaw homosexuality to varying degrees.

It鈥檚 a little-known fact that right-wing and Christian churches from the United States play a significant role in formulating and promoting such laws. Since at least the early 2000s, those churches have poured millions of dollars into anti-gay organizing in Africa. More than 20 US evangelical groups are involved in efforts to criminalize homosexuality there, according to . 

They also report that 鈥淭he Fellowship , a secretive US religious group whose Ugandan , David Bahati, wrote Uganda鈥檚 infamous 鈥楰ill the Gays鈥� bill, is the biggest spender in Africa. Between 2008 and 2018, this group sent more than $20m to Uganda alone.鈥�

Such groups often employ the language of to advance their cause, treating homosexuality as a 鈥淲estern鈥� import to Africa. Despite such rhetoric, many are motivated by racist and anti-gay beliefs. 鈥淥f the groups that are active in Africa,鈥� says Open Democracy, 鈥渢en are members of the (WCF), which has been to white supremacists in the US and Europe.鈥�

Is MAGA fascism? And does It matter?

Back in the late 1980s, I published an article entitled 鈥淲hat Is Fascism 鈥� And Why Do Women Need to Know?鈥� in , a paper I used to edit with three other women. It was at the height of the presidency of Ronald Reagan, and I was already worried about dangerous currents in the Republican party, ones that today have swelled into a full-scale riptide to the right. There鈥檚 a lot that鈥檚 dated in the piece, but the definition I offered for that much-used and misused bit of political terminology still stands:

The term it颅self was invented by Benito Mussolini, the premier of Italy from 1922 to 1945, and refers to the 鈥渇asces,鈥� the bundle of rods that symbolized the power of the Roman emperors. Today, I would define fascism as an ideology, movement or government with several identifying characteristics:

• Authoritarianism and fanatical respect for leaders. Fas颅cism is explicitly anti-democratic. It emerges in social flux or instability and chaotic and worsening economic situations.
• Subordination of the individual to the state or the 鈥渞ace.鈥� This subordination often has a spiritual im颅plication: people are offered an opportunity to transcend their sense of insignificance through participation in a powerful movement of the chosen.
• Appeal to a mythical imperial glory of the past. That past may be quite ancient, as in Mussolini鈥檚 evoca颅tions of the Roman Empire. Or it might be as recent as the United States of the 1950s.
• Biological determinism. Fascism involves believing in absolute biological differences between the sexes and among different races.
• Genuine popularity. The scariest thing about real fascism for me is that it has always been a truly pop颅ular movement. Even as a relatively minor force, fascism can be a mass movement without being a majority movement.

鈥淗aving laid out these basic elements,鈥� I added, one 鈥渞eal strength of fascism lies in its ex颅traordinary ideological elasticity,鈥� which allows it to embrace a wide variety of economic positions from libertarian to socialist and approaches to foreign policy that range from isolationism to imperialism. I think this, too, remains true today.

What I failed to emphasize then鈥攑erhaps because I thought it went without saying鈥攊s that fascism is almost by definition deadly. It needs enemies on whom it can focus the steaming rage of its adherents, and it is quite content for that rage to lead to literal extermination campaigns.

The creation of such enemies invariably involves a process of rhetorical dehumanization. In fascist propaganda, target groups cease to be actual people, becoming instead vermin, viruses, human garbage, communists, Marxists, terrorists or, in the case of the present attacks on LGBT people, pedophiles and groomers. As fascist movements develop, they bring underground streams of hatred into the light of 鈥渓egitimate鈥� political discourse.

What next?

All those decades ago, in my article for the Lesbian Contradiction, I suggested that the Christian fundamentalists represented an incipient fascist force. I think it鈥檚 fair to say that today鈥檚 Make America Great Again crew has inherited that mantle, successfully incorporating right-wing Christianity into a more significant proto-fascist movement. All the elements of classic fascism now lurk there. Including the adoration of the leader, subordination of the individual to the broader movement, an appeal to mythical past glories, a not-so-subtle embrace of white supremacy and discomfort with anything or anyone threatening the 鈥渘atural鈥� order of men and women. You have only to watch a video of a Trump rally to see that this is a mass movement.

If Donald Trump’s MAGA movement and the Republican Party he has largely taken over are fascist, why should we care? The answer is that the logic of fascism inevitably leads to the politics of extermination. Describing his MAGA movement as fascism makes it easier to recognize the existential threat it represents鈥攏ot only to a democratic society but to specific groups of human beings within it.

I know it may sound alarmist, but I think it鈥檚 true: proto-fascist forces in this country have shown that they are increasingly willing to exterminate queer people if that鈥檚 what it takes to gain and hold onto power. If I鈥檓 right, that means all Americans, queer or not, now face an existential threat.

For those who don鈥檛 happen to fall into one of MAGA鈥檚 target groups, let me close by Donald Trump: in the end, they鈥檙e coming after you. We鈥檙e just standing in the way.

[ first published this piece.]

[ edited this piece.]

The views expressed in this article are the author鈥檚 own and do not necessarily reflect 51吃瓜鈥檚 editorial policy.