By: Alex Ross

The current Administration is so scared of Queer folks like me that they’re ready to strip our rights and set us back fifty years. With this administration, we’re playing by a whole new set of rules. The Trump administration has launched vicious attacks on the LGBTQ community and our right to economic security. These actions are not only disheartening, but damaging to the fundamental protections that keep Queer people safe from discrimination.

The assault began on July 26^th when Trump tweeted, “United States Government will not accept or allow transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military.” His tweets led to confusion across the Administration and especially between the Joint Chiefs, the people actually responsible for making these decisions.

It should come as no surprise that a President who ran on a platform of bigotry would try to push a policy that would strip patriotic Americans of their right to serve. Some critics claim that the tweets were actually part of a deal to quell far-right Republicans in order to ensure money for his infamous border wall.

Recently, LGBTQ news sources reported that the White House issued an internal document entitled “A Guidance Policy for Open Transgender Service Phase Out.” Trump’s transphobic rhetoric has set in motion the process of stripping U.S citizens of rights they’ve fought hard to protect.

The Trump administration cites healthcare costs for transgender service members as the reason for the ban. However, the facts show the difference in cost between some 15,000 active transgender troops and their cisgender counterparts is negligible. This attack is no more than an attempt to side step the key decision makers in our armed forces and use patriotic Trans Americans as bargaining chips to fulfill xenophobic campaign promises.

The second assault on LGBT rights came the same day on July 26^th when the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed an amicus brief in a case in which a skydiving instructor, Donald Zarda, claims he was fired after disclosing his sexual orientation to a customer. The case brings into question whether or not the Civil Rights Act of 1964 offers protection based on sexual orientation. The DOJ posits that the law has been interpreted so that “discrimination based on sexual orientation does not fall within Title VII’s prohibition on sex discrimination.” However, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the group actually responsible for hearing complaints of employment discrimination, interprets that Title VII does in fact encompass anti-gay discrimination.

It is clear that there is a major disconnect between the White House and the rest of the federal government. Even Congress, which has never moved to include more explicit language protecting LGBT people in the legislation, largely agrees that Title VII does in fact prohibit anti-gay discrimination.

By filing this brief, this administration is sticking its nose where it doesn’t belong. The United States was neither plaintiff nor defendant in this case. The DOJ simply chose to make a petty and mean point that the federal government no longer supports employment protections for LGBTQ communities.

This endangers Queer folks across the country by putting their livelihoods at stake. If I as a gay man cannot feel secure in my career, then it becomes incredibly difficult to build and plan for the future. Seeing my rights put up for debate as if they were a matter of semantics is not only abhorrent, but a gross failure of our government to justly represent all of its people.

Our voices matter. Engaging in politics can be exhausting, trust me, I know. But it is important, now more than ever, to take action. The rights of Queer people and People of Color are on the chopping block. We’ve made some progress, but now we risk turning back the clock farther than ever before. It’s time for politicians to stop playing with people’s lives and start protecting them. 

“I’m very concerned about the dialogue going on in the country right now because I’m well aware of this cycle that we go through as humanity. My dad’s Jewish family came here to get away from oppression and death.  My great grandmother came via Russia in 1902 and all of the family that stayed there, that didn’t leave, is dead. Why? Because of this kind of us and them separation that grows and grows and grows and that separation becomes hate, becomes fear, becomes ‘they are less than us therefore they don’t deserve anything and we can now wipe them out.’”

Maryam, the daughter of Christian and Jewish converts to Islam, was born in Tucson and raised in Abiquiu. She’s New Mexican through and through and even has the norteño accent to prove it. These days she lives in Albuquerque, where she plays a vital role in her community as an emergency room nurse and as a volunteer self-defense teacher for girls and women. At heart, she’s a caretaker, and it shows in the warmth of her smile.

But even though Maryam plays such a pivotal role in the community, some people treat her like she doesn’t belong. The hijab she wears makes her instantly recognizable as a Muslim, and she’s frequently been the target of harassment.

 “I work in an emergency room which can be very hectic and crazy. We had one guy who was very agitated and just angry in general and he jumped out of his stretcher. I told him he needed to calm down and he was like ‘F you Iraqi bitch!’ and then he ran around like crazy.  And it’s like, really?  I’ve never even been to Iraq.”

 “I work in an emergency room which can be very hectic and crazy. We had one guy who was very agitated and just angry in general and he jumped out of his stretcher. I told him he needed to calm down and he was like ‘F you Iraqi bitch!’ and then he ran around like crazy.  And it’s like, really?  I’ve never even been to Iraq.”

More recently, Maryam and her friend were harassed while shopping in Costco.  A man, with a small child in his shopping cart, kept walking past them over and over again, yelling out insults about the Prophet Muhammad. Being attacked in “broad daylight” as a White woman makes Maryam particularly concerned about her Muslim sisters of color as well as her sisters with foreign accents.

 “I’m a tall White woman.  I carry my head up, my shoulders are back, and I don’t walk with an intimidated demeanor and I get harassed sometimes. If that’s what I’m facing, that really, really makes me think my sisters who have an accent or if they’re dark skinned or are at all intimidated or timid, they have it really hard. They have it really hard and they are not safe.”

Maryam refuses to let these incidents of harassment and intimidation paralyze her.  As a volunteer self-defense teacher, she’s empowering other women and girls in Albuquerque, some of whom have been physically attacked or have fled persecution from Syria, to protect themselves. 

“It is women who get attacked 99.9 percent of the time? Why?  Because we wear scarves on our heads and we look like Muslims.  So, that’s why women are being attacked. I will walk away every single time if it means everyone is going to be safe, including the person that’s being harmful. But be ready to fight if you have to,” says Maryam.

And, she adds, be ready to spring into action, to change the community dynamics that are harming and disempowering certain groups of people.

 “Don’t just be afraid.  Fear is a valuable asset if you utilize it.  If you let it freeze you or you become so afraid and you isolate yourself and can’t function, you don’t help anybody else.  If you have a little bit of justified anger you can actually use it for a lot of good and it helps grow and heal society.”