How Anti-Democracy Initiatives Fuel Anti-LGBTQ, Anti-Abortion Laws

The far right’s attempts to undermine democracy have paved the way for widespread anti-LGBTQ and anti-abortion initiatives across the country. There is a direct link between the more than 725 bills targeting LGBTQ people introduced in state legislatures in 2023 and the 380 bills that have been introduced in 47 states as of May that would restrict voter access, according to a June report from Movement Advancement Project, a think tank. Erecting Systemic and Structural Barriers to Make Change Harder explores the chasm between the majority of Americans who support LGBTQ equality and the proliferation of anti-LGBTQ bills, especially those targeting transgender youth. The far right has been able to accomplish this onslaught through several tactics that undermine democracy, which include restricting voting rights, gerrymandering, and reshaping the judiciary.

“The avalanche of anti-LGBTQ bills we saw introduced in 2023 demonstrates how out of touch with the public many state legislators are,” said Naomi Goldberg, deputy director and LGBTQ program director at Movement Advancement Project. “We know that most Americans support LGBTQ people and protections against discrimination.” This includes 69% of religious Americans. “These bills are indicative of a coordinated strategy by far-right politicians to score political points. This is at the expense of LGBTQ people to rile up their base rather than focus on the core issues that Americans care about like the economy, good jobs, and quality education for their children.”

Election and voting systems are becoming less democratic, meaning that historically underrepresented groups such as LGBTQ people become even more disenfranchised. “The efforts from state legislatures to undermine democracy in our country make it harder for eligible voters to cast a vote, to have those votes counted, and to be able to elect lawmakers who reflect their values,” said Goldberg. “These efforts have a disproportionate impact on voters who have historically faced discrimination. For example, strict voter ID laws make it harder for Black voters and transgender and nonbinary voters to cast ballots. Voter ID restrictions also impact disabled voters, people with housing instability or who are homeless, and far too many other people. The result is that the very people whose lives are being targeted by politicians — in anti-transgender bills, bills attacking accurate U.S. history, and more — have barriers erected to make it harder for them to vote and have a say in which laws are passed.”

This has a ripple effect, making it less likely that elected officials will represent the interests and values of disenfranchised communities, including LGBTQ people. “LGBTQ people and trans youth are an attractive political wedge, and some bad actors have been using and spreading misinformation for political gain. It’s a vicious cycle — you undermine people's rights in terms of voting and people become disenfranchised,” said Chris Erchull, staff attorney with GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD). GLAD is one of several organizations suing to block Florida’s transgender health care ban. When bills are passed that undermine basic civil rights, such as health care, “people become mistrustful of the government and are even more disengaged. In Florida for example, our clients are scrambling to get their health care, and when that’s taken away, it makes it harder to participate and engage” with advocacy and politics.

The anti-LGBTQ, anti-trans initiatives in Florida “pander to a very particular group of people within the governor’s [Ron DeSantis] voting base who do not understand the issues and are thus easily enraged and made fearful by the inaccurate rhetoric about LGBTQ+ identities,” said Simone Chriss, director of the Transgender Rights Initiative at Southern Legal Counsel, a statewide public interest law firm in Florida, and one of the organizations involved in the lawsuit, along with GLAD. These views absolutely “don't reflect the views and the values of the majority of Floridians,” 80% of whom support LGBTQ nondiscrimination protections, according to a 2022 poll by the Public Religion Research Institute. “It’s easy to target LGBTQ+ people, and especially transgender people, and to spread misinformation to create an image of LGBTQ+ people and LGBTQ+ rights as a sort of ‘boogeyman’ for political gain. But it has, unfortunately, proven to be a very successful strategy.”

Further undermining Florida voters, “DeSantis has utilized back channels and used his own appointed officials to create these anti-LGBTQ+ initiatives, and we don't get to vote these people out of office if they take actions that are contrary to the values and will of the people in Florida, because they are political appointees,” said Chriss. “The relentless nature of the attacks on LGBTQ+ and particularly trans rights is intended to create fear, to overwhelm us, and to burn us out, due to the sheer volume of things to keep up with. And that combined with the back-channel nature of many of these efforts results in people being unaware of everything that is happening. For example, if you don’t check things like the Department of Education website every day, then you don't know how the ‘Don't Say Gay’ bill is expanding to include high school students, and other draconian and insidious measure being pushed through the administrative rulemaking process.”

Another tactic that right-wing politicians have utilized is interfering with the ballot initiative process. Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey, who is anti-abortion, tried to block a ballot initiative that would amend the state constitution to include the right to abortion; the state Supreme Court ruled on July 20 that he had improperly held up his approval of the initiative. “The unelected attorney general continues to attack reproductive rights and trans rights to gain name recognition,” said Tori Schafer, deputy director for policy and campaigns at the ACLU of Missouri. “He's afraid that if Missourians are given the chance to vote on this amendment, it will be a success for reproductive freedom advocates here like it was in Kansas, Michigan, and Kentucky. His actions are not reflective of the way a majority of Missourians feel — Missourians continue to pass progressive measures. We have statewide anti-abortion officials who want to stand in the way of Missourians’ access to direct democracy because they’re afraid of our collective power.”

In Ohio, the Republican-led state legislature is pushing forward an amendment, Issue 1, that would raise the threshold for passing future amendments to the state constitution from a simple majority to a 60% supermajority; a special election is being held on August 8. The main target is the Reproductive Freedom with Protections for Health and Safety amendment, which is on the November ballot and would add the right to make reproductive decisions, including abortion, to the state constitution. “In Ohio, we are in a collective with 20 other religious organizations fighting against Ballot Issue 1,” said Jeanné Lewis, CEO of Faith in Public Life Action, a national movement of clergy and faith leaders. “Unfortunately, there has been a clear strategy to weaponize religion and faith which has been successful at getting people to be single-issue voters, and religion has been weaponized for this purpose. However, it’s important for people to understand that there is not just one perspective among people of faith and religious leaders—that [many of us] believe also in human dignity and love.”

The Yellowhammer Fund, an abortion advocacy and reproductive justice organization serving Alabama, Mississippi, and the Deep South, sued the state attorney general on July 31 after he threatened criminal prosecution for anyone helping abortion seekers leave the state; Alabama has a total abortion ban. “Part of the reason for the lawsuit is to help connect the dots for people — there is just too much happening all the time,” said Jenice Fountain, executive director of the Yellowhammer Fund. “The total abortion ban in Alabama does not represent the majority opinion of people in this state, only the majority of conservatives, and it’s part of racial gerrymandering and a way to disenfranchise marginalized people. Now Alabama is going after birthing centers, and this will literally kill people. One thing this country is really good at is keeping people really tired so it’s hard to be informed of everything that's going on when you are struggling to pay your rent or you don't have health insurance."

In order to fight back effectively, “people need to be vigilant at every level of government, from school boards, their local elected officials, etc,” said Erchull. “They need to show up to meetings and stay informed. We have a strong majority that does support equality, but it requires showing up, and when we mobilize we are effective. And voting is especially important when they are making it harder to do."

Transgender people are a very small percentage of the U.S. population: 1.3 million adults and 300,000 youth. “There aren’t that many transgender people, so our politicians are spending a lot of time, effort and energy on trying to deny the rights of an already marginalized part of our population when they could be ensuring that we all can participate and contribute in society fully,” said Shelly L. Skeen, south central regional director at Lambda Legal. For example, 81% of transgender adults have considered suicide compared to 35% of cisgender adults; 42% of transgender adults have attempted suicide, while 11% of cisgender adults have.“There's an integrity issue right now where legislators are sponsoring unconstitutional laws and governors are signing them. The main norms, values, and standards that of what keeps a democracy working are not being adhered to right now. The U.S. has always been a work in progress, but right now progress isn't working.”

Right wing political leaders “have manufactured issues for which their base can get riled up and direct their anger and attention, but the manufactured issues do not stem from anything happening in reality,” said Chriss. “For example, there were no bills restricting access to gender affirming care before 2020 — because it was not and is not an issue — but now we've seen 170 bills targeting access to transgender health care in 2023 alone. It's an easy way to get a small but vocal minority to turn out to vote about issues they know nothing about. We need to educate everyone around us. When people really understand the impact of these cruel and draconian laws, then they tend to be opposed to them."