Party of Lincoln Has Devolved Into the Party of Homophobia, Transphobia, and Bigotry

Between Donald Trumpâ€™s selection ofÂ Mike Pence to be his running mate and their new, bigotry-laden planned platform, the Republican party has officially completed its total rebranding to being wholly anti-LGBTQ. Itâ€™s certainly been a long time coming, but until now, thereâ€™s always been at least a small shred of nobility and a calling of statesmanship within the party; some sense that the both the Consititution and the people it was written to guide actually mattered within the GOP.

Those days are over.Â

The Republican party has become a shell of its former self. Once proclaimed The Party of Lincoln, the only time one hears that phrase these days is when it is uttered ironically or in shame.

In the past few months alone – in the year 2016(!) – the GOP has attacked the LGBTQ community by:

All of this, of course, is in addition to the already blatant and abhorrent racism, xenophobia, Islamaphobia, misogyny, and all of the rest of the bigotry proudly displayed by Trump and his team.

Sure, there always used to be an anti-LGBTQ faction of the Republican party, but they had never been pushed quite as front and center as they are now. Every family has that one racist uncle they have to be civil with at Thanksigiving, but now heâ€™s no longer just drinking all your bourbon and yelling at your cat, heâ€™s throwing up all over your lawn while heâ€™s pretending to host the party.Â

Letâ€™s be clear: If you vote Republican, this is what youâ€™re endorsing. This is your party now. A few weeks ago I wrote about being an ally to LGBTQ people. If you vote for Republicans now, knowing that this is their party and these are their leaders, you are no ally to LGBTQ peopleÂ â€“ and that includes your own LGBTQ family members.

The Republican Party has become a nationalistic and fearful child throwing a temper tantrum against progress. They are white supremacists hell bent on taking America back to the stone age of a â€œsimpler time,â€ when women and minorities knew their place and enjoyable sex hadnâ€™t been invented yet.Â

Simply, a vote for the GOP is a vote in support of their hateful agenda and their disgusting platform. Itâ€™s a vote against your LGBTQ family and friends. These policies will have a real impact and will do real harm to us, and, frankly, if you love us even a little bit, I donâ€™t know how you could stomach that thought.

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Robbie Medwed is an Atlanta-based LGBTQ activist and educator. His column appears here weekly. Follow him on Twitter: @rjmedwed.

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Image by DonkeyHotey via Flickr and a CC license