Vanishing Rights

So yesterday, I got into an argument with someone about what is happening with rights here in America. Gay rights, women’s rights, etc., and I was basically shut down and told that this is America and rights don’t just get taken away. I was told this isn’t a Muslim country and it couldn’t and wouldn’t happen here. But here’s the thing… It is. Happening. Here.

On Friday, October 6, Health and Human Services (HHS) made it way easier for employers to opt out of covering contraception on religious or moral grounds. That means, employers have been given a pass to discriminate against women.  And the White House will back them up. In March, Trump revoked the 2014 Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces order which was primarily meant to help working class women from workplace abuse. Now, women are more vulnerable to sexual harassment. Now we can all grab women by the pussy at work whenever the whim hits.

They have also cracked down on abortion, which means that while a baker can refuse to deliver a cake to a same-sex wedding, a woman should not be allowed to terminate her rape or molestation related pregnancy. Mike Pence wanted to change the definition of rape to include only “forcible rape.” Isn’t that term a bit redundant? He also believes that “the hard truth of our experiment with gender integration [in the military] is that it has been an almost complete disaster for the military and for many of the individual women involved.” Perhaps if the Department of Defense did not make it a point to cover up sexual harassment and assault, and if they not provide $41.6 million (according to the Defense Health Agency) worth of Viagra to the troops, perhaps the gender integration experience might have gone just a bit better. At least for the women involved.  

Moving onto gay issues and the military ban on transgender Americans. This does not affect me directly, but discrimination of any type should not be tolerated. By anyone. I don’t know what it is like to be transgender and I personally don’t understand it, any more than I understand what it is like to be a woman or a person of color, but that is irrelevant. Transgender people are just that, people. We are talking about banning people from serving their country because they were born a certain way? Let’s ban rapists. Let’s ban spouse abusers, child abusers, molesters, white supremacists and people who spread hate and intolerance. I have never understood that way of thinking. When my mom found out I was gay, she said that if I were a murderer, rapist or child molester that I would at least be “normal.” It seems Trump’s administration feels the same way.

This became more obvious when the administration argued in federal court that a 1964 civil rights law does not protect gays, lesbians or transgender people in the workplace. The law, Title VII, outlaws discriminating against workers “because of sex.” It now seems ok for me to be treated as less than a second-class citizen just because of who I have sex with. In the privacy of my own home. With the curtains drawn. And the door locked. Of course, this can’t happen here, in America, but I think someone forgot to tell that New York Skydiving company who fired an employee for being gay.

Last month, the Department of Justice backed the rights of a baker to not make a wedding cake for a same-sex marriage between two men. The baker didn’t want to do it because it went against his religious or moral beliefs, yet I am going to assume the man has provided services to adulterers, liars, thieves, worshippers of false gods, people who take the Lord’s name in vain, people who have coveted their neighbors wife and those guilty of any number of transgressions that the baker should probably smite instead of offering them baked goods. I’m fine if someone wants to make decisions based on their religious or moral beliefs, and if they don’t want to make a cake for my wedding, I’m cool with that. I am happy not to fork over my money, but they do not get to pick and choose which moral and religious beliefs they will stick to while ignoring others because they are not convenient to that person’s lifestyle. My step dad was one of those people. Go to church, pray, smile, gossip about what people are wearing and then go home and beat the children.

Pence and Trump also threw their support behind Roy Moore, a Republican candidate from Alabama who has said “homosexual conduct should be illegal” and who Trump describes as “a really great guy.” Again no surprise as the Vice President has long been open about his views on gays. He has stated that being gay was a choice – for the record, being gay is not a choice, but being narrow-minded and spreading a hate filled agenda is – and he stated “societal collapse was always brought about following an advent of the deterioration of marriage and family.” So my relationship is bringing this country down. But then, Pence also believes that “Despite the hysteria from the political class and the media, smoking doesn’t kill.” This is a man that wants to defund HIV and AIDS programs to “provide assistance to those seeking to change their sexual behavior.”

Let’s remember, the deviant sexual behavior he believes needs to be changed is same-sex sex. Not molestation sex. Not rape sex. Not abuse of power sex. But same-sex sex.

On September 1^st, Trump nominated James Bridenstine to be the next Administrator of NASA. Bridenstine has stated “many studies have shown that both a mother and father are essential for raising successful and healthy children.” Not only does he attack same-sex parent families, he goes after single parents, grandparents raining their grandchildren and any other family that does not fit into his outdated picture of what that should look like. There is no typical family anymore. And the fact that someone believes my son is better off in the foster system or in an abusive mom/dad family than with us is beyond repulsive. But the good news is that none of that happens here in America. He also lacks any formal qualification in science or engineering. And he rejects the scientific community when it comes to climate change, but that is a whole other topic.

In 2017, Karen Handel was elected to the US Congress and when asked about same-sex couples adopting, stated “I have to honest – my faith calls me to a different place on the issue.” So in other words, she is openly against same-sex couples adopting and with all the rest, against my family.

While I know this is America and there is no way my rights can be repealed, lessened, taken away or eroded in any way, these things are cause for concern. And for anyone who thinks these things don’t apply to them because they are outside a certain demographic or group, think again. It won’t stop there. Today, gay people are the easy target. We are visible and for some reason, we scare some people. I don’t know why.

The thing that scares me is that it never stops “there,” wherever “there” is. And the target shifts as time moves on. Black people. Women. Native Americans. Mexicans. Chinese. Jews. Muslims. Wait and do nothing long enough, and eventually you will become a target as well. And you too can know the joys of having your rights whittled away while those around you tell you that you are being silly and overreacting.