The consequences of a White House bigot

I’ve seen reports that violence against LGBT people went up last year (though I don’t have a link handy). Also over the last year, as found in a survey by GLAAD and the Harris Poll, support for LGBT Americans has gone down, the first time in four years. Within the findings people report they are less comfortable with LGBT people and less supportive of LGBT issues. In addition, fewer people identified themselves as an LGBT ally. All that means more LGBT people experienced discrimination.

All that prompted some analysis from Melissa McEwan of Shakesville. This is what we get when we put a bigot in the White House. With that:

People may declare themselves to be an ally because society expects them to. When society drops that expectation the ally falls away. A person may also be an ally when it is popular, but stop when it isn’t.

And her important point: “A public expectation of support for marginalized people matters. Hugely.” Support for us depends, in a big part, on the perception that it is unacceptable to not show support. A bigot in the White House means it is acceptable for a bigot to express and act on those bigoted views.




An important point McEwan shared on Twitter:

Reminder: You might think it matters if you seem to be smarter than most Nazis. It doesn't. What matters is that you're not meaner than most Nazis. They will do things that you will never do.