# 2020s anti-LGBT movement in the United States

The 2020s anti-LGBT movement in the United States is a conservative political backlash against LGBT people which has included bathroom use restrictions, bans on gender transition, “don't say gay” laws, laws against drag performances, book bans, boycotts, and conspiracy theories around grooming.
    See also:
       LGBT rights in the United States
       Transphobia in the United States
Arranged alphabetically by author or source: A · B · C · D · E · F · G · H · I · J · K · L · M · N · O · P · Q · R · S · T · U · V · W · X · Y · Z · See also · External links

## B

* I'm looking at society today and it's like I'm watching an X-Men movie… it's like we have mutants living among us on planet Earth. Some people don’t like that, but that’s a fact. This is the planet Earth, where God created men, male and women, female. I’m a proud Christian, conservative Republican. I’m not on the fence… I'm not afraid to address the dysphoria or the dysfunction. The Lord rebuke you, Satan, and all of your demons and all of your imps will come and parade before us. That's right – I called you demons and imps who come and parade before us and pretend that you are part of this world.
** Florida state Rep. Webster Barnaby, quoted in Florida GOP legislator calls transgender people ‘mutants’ and ‘demons’ during hearing. The Hill (April 11, 2023).
* So, what have Republican legislators done? Let me count the ways. They introduced nearly 500 anti-LGBTQ+ bills. They’re also banning books, which we know. And teachers in states like Florida are barred from even talking about being gay or transgender in the classroom.
** Joy Behar, stated in Transgender State Rep. Zooey Zephyr On How Anti-Trans Laws Can Affect Trans Youth. The View (June 2, 2023).
* What's going on in Florida is, as my mother would say, "close to sinful."
** Joe Biden, quoted in "President Biden leads charge to protect LGBTQ rights as GOP legislates culture wars ahead of 2024". USA Today. April 22, 2023.
* It’s actually those bills and those demagogues that choose to advocate against us, that make us fight more. I will not give up until we have full equality for our people.
** Earline Budd, quoted in "D.C. Pride parade: Thousands celebrate LGBTQ community, trans rights". Washington Post. June 10, 2023.

## C

* For years, we've been hearing from anti trans pundits and politicians that this is about protecting the children. But I think what this Oklahoma law reveals is that it's never been about the children. It's always been about scapegoating trans people, stigmatizing us and criminalizing our existence, making us not exist.
** Laverne Cox, quoted in "Laverne Cox: “Trans People Are Exhausted” by Anti-Trans Legislation". them. January 20, 2023.

## D

* We never did this through all of human history until like, what, two weeks ago? Now this is something? They’re having third graders declare pronouns? We’re not doing the pronoun Olympics in Florida.
** Ron DeSantis, quoted in 'Genocidal': Transgender people begin to flee states with anti-LGBTQ laws. ABC News (June 11, 2023).

## G

* Hey Dad. Thanks for setting aside time to meet with me, it means a lot to me. There are a lot of important issues passing through the legislature right now. For my own sake I’ve chosen to focus primarily on transgender rights, as that would significantly directly affect a number of my friends… I would like to make the argument that these bills are immoral, unjust, and frankly a violation of human rights.
** David Gianforte, quoted in "Gianforte’s son one of many lobbying governor against trans bills". Montana Free Press. April 26, 2023.
* It’s not our fault that the truth hurts them, it’s their fault that the truth hurts them, because they have turned their back on the truth and they’ve turned their back on God... [Democrats] passed a bill to make it a federal law to protect gay marriage. Marriage is between a man and a woman, and that’s between God and a man and a woman.
** Marjorie Taylor Greene, quoted in "Marjorie Taylor Greene Rails Against Gay Marriage". Metro Weekly. February 15, 2023.

## H

* How are we supposed to get our girls used to the fact that biological boys are in their locker rooms? And then we wonder why a third of our teenage girls seriously contemplated suicide last year.
** Nikki Haley, quoted in "Nikki Haley Blames Teen Suicides on Trans Kids in Locker Rooms". Daily Beast. June 5, 2023.
* I'll tell you my priority. Protect religious liberty. Protect people of faith. And protect Americans who believe in the true meaning of marriage. I hope and pray that my colleagues will find the courage to join me in opposing this misguided and this dangerous bill.
** U.S. House Rep. Vicky Hartzler speaking in opposition to the Respect for Marriage Act, quoted in "GOP Congresswoman Tearfully Begs Colleagues to Rebuke Gay Marriage". Out Magazine. December 12, 2022.
* We have officially declared a state of emergency for LGBTQ+ people in the United States for the first time following an unprecedented and dangerous spike in anti-LGBTQ+ legislative assaults sweeping state houses this year. More than 75 anti-LGBTQ+ bills have been signed into law this year alone, more than doubling last year’s number, which was previously the worst year on record. Our community is in danger, but we won't stop fighting back — not now, not ever.
** Human Rights Campaign, stated in "National State of Emergency for LGBTQ+ Americans". June 6, 2023.
* I want to tell your audience there is no transgender. There is male and there is female. And transgender would be a mental health issue. So those people that say I'm bigoted, I will say you're insane and you're doing the people wrong by doing that.
** Oklahoma state Rep. Justin Humphrey, quoted in "Oklahoma lawmaker accused of bigotry after saying transgender people ‘have mental illness’". ABC 5. April 15, 2021.

## I

* I'm with the President on this! If passed, this bill will put vulnerable, young LGBTQ people in jeopardy.
** Bob Iger speaking against Florida's "don't say gay" bill, quoted in "DeSantis told ex-Disney CEO Bob Chapek to stay out of Florida’s fight over ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill, book says". CNBC. April 15, 2021.

## J

* Knowing that your governor and the top officials in your state literally don't want you to exist – That's a different kind of stress. It felt very genocidal [in Texas].
** Jamie (pseudonym), quoted in 'Genocidal': Transgender people begin to flee states with anti-LGBTQ laws. ABC News (June 11, 2023).
* Let's not forget what we're seeing across the country from statehouses: more than 600 pieces of legislation, anti-LGBTQ+ legislation. A few hundred of those are against transgender youth. And so we have not seen that type of 'anti' sentiment, anti — against this community in decades. We also need to make sure that we let the community know that the President has their back and we're going to continue to fight for them.
** White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, quoted in "Biden announces new LGBTQ+ initiatives amid state rollbacks". Axios. June 8, 2023.

## K

* The reason we are singling out drag performances is there are drag performances out there that are targeting children, and that needs to stop. The problem is that children are being targeted in many areas, and it is evil against good... and we’ve got to push back on evil. I will do everything I can as a senator in this chamber to protect Arizona children from perversion (and) grooming.
** Arizona state Sen. Anthony Kern, quoted in "Arizona Republicans approve bill to criminalize ‘evil’ drag shows". AZ Mirror. February 2, 2022.
* The explosion of legislation is in part the culmination of efforts by a trio of conservative organizations, which are helping state legislators write and promote the bills. One of the most active — the Alliance Defending Freedom — has a decades-long history of fighting LGBTQ rights, including in battles to preserve state laws criminalizing consensual sex between gay adults, court records show.
** Kimberley Kindy, stated in "GOP lawmakers push historic wave of bills targeting rights of LGBTQ teens, children and their families". The Washington Post. March 25, 2022.
* There's something really exciting happening with Target everybody. So Target has a target on their back. Target is freaking out. Target is holding emergency meetings. They're worried that they're losing their customer base. Everybody keep the pressure on. We need to go after Target in a very serious way. It is time for decent, ordinary Americans who do not believe in radical ideas in either direction to just say I will not allow my kid to be corrupted by this trans agenda and look Target - it looks like they're caving. They say they're putting the clothes in the back. I don't want - I want Target to go bankrupt. I want them to close. I want Chapter 11, okay? I want them to go Chapter 11. People say what does success look like? Chapter 11, okay? I want skull and bones all the way down to the absolute nails of the stores. That's the only thing they understand is force. Pain is a teacher and the pain of crossing the line to perverting our children and grooming them, it's going to be a lesson I hope corporate America watches because ordinary America is pushing back. We must push for the bankruptcy of Target. Make it happen everybody.
** Charlie Kirk, quoted in "'Pain is a teacher': Charlie Kirk encourages his audience to bankrupt Target for selling Pride merchandise". Media Matters. May 24, 2023.
* I never want to put anyone in a position to be at risk or in danger in any way. But also where is the line of being silenced? How do we navigate these absurd threats and laws against our community?... We deserve to have a safe space to be ourselves while we navigate the evil that is threatening our own existence. We will not be silenced. We will find ways to continue to be our authentic selves, no matter what. We will not give up. No matter how hard they make it.
** Hayley Kiyoko, quoted in "Hayley Kiyoko Defies TN Police, Features Drag Queens At Concert". Out. May 3, 2023.
* For the good of society ... transgenderism must be eradicated from public life entirely — the whole preposterous ideology, at every level.
** Michael J. Knowles, quoted in CPAC Speaker Michael Knowles Says “Transgenderism Must Be Eradicated”. them (March 6, 2023).

## L

* There’s something so unique about — the LGBTQ community has become this cult and it’s so captivating and it pulls people in so strongly unlike anything we’ve ever seen and they brainwash people to join. They convince them of all of these things. And it’s really hard to get out of it... I think they’re evil. And sometimes we try to break it down a lot and we discuss why this is happening, what’s happening, whatever, and I think sometimes the simplest answer is they’re just evil. They’re bad people. They’re evil people. And they want to groom kids. They’re recruiting.
** Libs of TikTok, quoted in "Libs of TikTok tells Tucker Carlson: LGBTQ+ are a poisonous cult". Los Angeles Blade. December 22, 2022.
* In light of recent and tragic events and current events, I was told by people on the internet, ‘Cancel your shows in Tennessee,’ ‘Don’t go to Tennessee.' Their reason was valid, but why would I not come to the people who need to hear this message the most? Why would I not create a safe space in Tennessee where we can celebrate drag entertainers and celebrate our differences?
** Lizzo, quoted in "Lizzo Brings Out Drag Queens During Tennessee Show to Protest Anti-Drag Law". Advocate. April 23, 2023.

## M

* I am deeply alarmed by a widespread, profoundly negative riptide created by deliberate actions to roll back the human rights of LGBT people at state level. The evidence shows that, without exception, these actions rely on prejudiced and stigmatising views of LGBT persons, in particular transgender children and youth, and seek to leverage their lives as props for political profit.
** Victor Madrigal-Borloz, quoted in "United States: UN expert warns LGBT rights being eroded, urges stronger safeguards". United Nations. August 30, 2022.
* So this art form I’ve devoted my life to is being used as a scapegoat for people to get votes. This is what they always do. They just take some random cause that they know people will vote for - based on nothing. But there’s no way to combat it with data, because this isn’t even a group of people that care about data… I was looking for information on stats on drag queens being pedophiles. Zero. There’s no drag queens being arrested for sexual assaults of children. That doesn’t happen. You know where that happens? The church. Okay? That’s where. This whole country mollycoddles Christians, and I’m fucking tired of it.
** Trixie Mattel, stated in Tweet by @hunnyyed. Twitter. June 27, 2023.
* Pride just almost got to a place where it felt like, ‘Do we really even need to this anymore?’ But now our rights are being threatened again.
** Shane Mayson, quoted in "D.C. Pride parade: Thousands celebrate LGBTQ community, trans rights". Washington Post. June 10, 2023.
* Reverse policies that allow transgender individuals to serve in the military. Gender dysphoria is incompatible with the demands of military service, and the use of public monies for transgender surgeries or to facilitate abortion for servicemembers should be ended.
** Christopher Miller, "Department of Defense," Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise: 2025 Presidential Transition Project (2023), edited by Paul Dans & Steven Groves, Washington: The Heritage Foundation, paperback, p. 104
* For months now, I have been scared to leave my house. I have been ridiculed in public. I have been followed, and I have felt a loneliness that I wouldn’t wish on anyone. I’m not telling you this because I want your pity. I’m telling you this because if this is my experience from a very privileged perspective, know that it is much, much worse for other trans people.
** Dylan Mulvaney, quoted in "Influencer Dylan Mulvaney condemns Bud Light’s response to transphobia". The Guardian. June 29, 2023.
* [Gender transition] is a major problem. I will be actively lobbying to criminalize making severe, irreversible changes to children below the age of consent. Shame on those who advocate this! It is utterly contemptible.
** Elon Musk, quoted in "Elon Musk Calls to Imprison Therapists Helping Trans Kids". New Republic. June 2, 2023.

## N

* CEO of Target Brian Cornell selling out the LGBTQ+ community to extremists is a real profile in courage. This isn’t just a couple stores in the South. There is a systematic attack on the gay community happening across the country. Wake up America. This doesn’t stop here. You’re black? You’re Asian? You’re Jewish? You’re a woman? You’re next.
** California Gov. Gavin Newsom, quoted in "Newsom knocks Target CEO for pulling LGBTQ merchandise from stores". The Hill. May 24, 2023.

## O

* They have gone after trans kids in every conceivable dimension. They’re trying to take their parents’ support away, they’re trying to take doctors’ support away, they’re trying to take teachers’ support away, and they’re trying to take their teams and coaches away.
** Cathryn Oakley, quoted in "GOP lawmakers push historic wave of bills targeting rights of LGBTQ teens, children and their families". The Washington Post. March 25, 2022.
* It's not about the children. It's about pushing the LGBTQ community back into the closet. If it were about the children, they would focus on all these other issues that are going on with foster care, gun control.
** Obsinity (drag queen) speaking in opposition to the Tennessee drag ban, quoted in "We Talked to Drag Queens About Being Banned: ‘We’re Not Going Anywhere’". Vice News. April 6, 2023.
* Of course, I have been covering the wonderful month of Pride, for which I feel no pride for at all. I think it should be called shame month. It’s absolute debauchery. I spoke about this last week and when you believe when you start to see that your government is sponsoring that, when they’re putting real dollars behind things like drag queen story hour in New York City, you should realize that something nefarious is going on because the government does not care about your children. No, the government does not love your children. The government does not want your children to be accepted. The government wants your children to be enslaved to government for the rest of their life. And right now, as we’re seeing, there is a marriage between government and big pharma. It is my belief that that is the push behind this effort to tell children that they can pick their gender and to confuse them. And you’re seeing right now that adults are getting behind this narrative so they can have a woke T-shirt on and say I love my children. I allowed my child to pick their gender and pick their species. And they feel proud of themselves because they can go and they can say this on Facebook that they are wonderful, accepting, and loving adults. When, in reality, they are underqualified to have children. They should have their children taken away from them because it’s child abuse.
** Candace Owens, quoted in "Candace Owens absurdly says parents who are cool with drag queens are ‘underqualified to have children’". Independent. June 17, 2022.

## P

* I named SB 12 to be one of my top priorities this session because someone must push back against the radical left’s disgusting drag performances which harm Texas children. It is shocking to me that any parent would allow their young child to be sexualized by drag shows. Children, who cannot make decisions on their own, must be protected from this scourge facing our state.
** Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, quoted in "Does Texas’s ‘drag ban bill’ target transgender Texans?". The Hill. June 5, 2023.

## R

* We need to just pause, we need to understand what these emerging therapies actually may potentially do to our kids. My heart goes out to them. I’m a parent, I’m a grandmother, I know how difficult this is. This is an extremely uncomfortable position for me to be in. I don’t like it. But I have to do what I believe right now is in the best interest of the kids.
** Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, quoted in "Kim Reynolds says Iowa ban on gender-affirming care is in the 'best interest of the kids'". Des Moines Register. March 21, 2023.
* Because of Ron DeSantis and his frenzied appeal to extremists, LGBTQ+ people in Florida are finding themselves in a state of emergency every single day. Since the day he took office, Governor DeSantis has weaponized his position to weave bigotry, hate, and discrimination into public law for his own political gain... Those who visit must join us in their vocal opposition to these dangerous policies.
** Kelley Robinson, quoted in LGBT Travel Advisory to the State of Florida. Human Rights Campaign. May 23, 2023.
* Hey, look over there! A classic distraction technique, distracting us away from the real issues that they were voted into office to focus on: jobs, healthcare, keeping our children safe from harm at their own school. But we know that bullies are incompetent at solving real issues. They look for easy targets so they can give the impression of being effective. They think our love, our light, our laughter and our joy are signs of weakness. But they’re wrong because that is our strength. Drag queens are the Marines of the queer movement. Don’t get it twisted and don’t be distracted. Register to vote so we can get these stunt queens out of office and put some smart people with real solutions into government.
** RuPaul, quoted in "RuPaul slams 'stunt queen' politicians for banning drag shows". Today. March 8, 2023.

## S

* One of the big issues that we have heard today and we've talked about lately is that without surgery the risk of suicide goes way up. Well, I am one of those parents who lived with a daughter who was suicidal for three years. Someone once asked me, "Wouldn't I just do anything to help save her?" And I really had to think and the answer was, "No." I was not going to give in to her emotional manipulation because she was incapable of making those decisions and I had to make those decisions for her. I was not going to let her tear apart my family and I was not going to let her tear apart me.
** Montana state Rep. Kerri Seekins-Crowe, quoted in "Montana Republican suggests she would prefer daughter die by suicide than allow her to transition". Salon. May 1, 2023.
* Goal #3: Promoting Stable and Flourishing Married Families. Families comprised of a married mother, father, and their children are the foundation of a well-ordered nation and healthy society. Unfortunately, family policies and programs under President Biden’s HHS are fraught with agenda items focusing on “LGBTQ+ equity,” subsidizing single-motherhood, disincentivizing work, and penalizing marriage. These policies should be repealed and replaced by policies that support the formation of stable, married, nuclear families.
** Roger Severino, "Department of Health and Human Services," Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise: 2025 Presidential Transition Project (2023), edited by Paul Dans & Steven Groves, Washington: The Heritage Foundation, paperback, p. 450
* The CDC should immediately end its collection of data on gender identity, which legitimizes the unscientific notion that men can become women (and vice versa) and encourages the phenomenon of ever-multiplying subjective identities.
** Roger Severino, "Department of Health and Human Services," Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise: 2025 Presidential Transition Project (2023), edited by Paul Dans & Steven Groves, Washington: The Heritage Foundation, paperback, p. 456
* Today is a sad day in American constitutional law and in the lives of LGBT people... The immediate, symbolic effect of the decision is to mark gays and lesbians for second-class status.
** U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, dissent in 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis ‎
* Christian parents don’t think the schools should be evangelizing children into sexual ideologies they don’t agree with. So that’s what the bill is about, to try to get schools to stop doing that… I’m empowering the parent that is directly affected by what they see as overriding their beliefs.
** Oklahoma state Sen. Rob Standridge, quoted in "GOP lawmakers push historic wave of bills targeting rights of LGBTQ teens, children and their families". The Washington Post. March 25, 2022.

## T

* We love you queens! We're in your corner and we've got you, and I will fuck anybody up who's trying to fuck with anything with you guys. There are so many things that are hurting and, really, killing our kids — and we all know what I'm talking about right now — and it ain't no drag queen. Because if you've ever seen a drag queen lip-sync for her life, it only makes you happier, it only makes you love more, it makes you a better person.
** Charlize Theron, quoted in "Charlize Theron says she'll 'f--- anybody up' who goes after drag queens: 'No more room for hate'". Entertainment Weekly. May 11, 2023.
* I will sign a new executive order instructing every federal agency to cease all programmes that promote the concept of sex and gender transition at any age. I will then ask congress to permanently stop federal tax-payer dollars from being used to promote or pay for these procedures and pass a law prohibiting child-sexual mutilation in all 50 states – it’ll go very quickly. I will declare that any hospital or healthcare provider that participates in the chemical or physical mutilation of minor youth will no longer meet federal health and safety standards for Medicaid and Medicare and will be terminated from the programme immediately. Furthermore I will support the creation of a private right of action for victims to sue doctors who have unforgivably performed these procedures on minor children.
** Donald Trump, quoted in "Donald Trump vows to ban gender-affirming healthcare for kids in stinging attack on LGBTQ+ rights". Pink News. February 1, 2023.
* It’s amazing how strongly people feel about that. You see I’m talking about cutting taxes, people go like that. I talk about transgender, everyone goes crazy. Who would have thought? Five years ago, you didn’t know what the hell it was.
** Donald Trump, quoted in "Trump Checks Crowd Over 'Crazy' Ovation: You 'Didn't Know' About This 5 Years Ago". Yahoo! News. June 11, 2023.
* When you start saying, ‘I’m a man, I become a woman, I’m now winning national championships, setting weightlifting world records, displacing women who’ve worked their entire lives to get to a point in their careers, I think that’s wrong.
** Donald Trump Jr., quoted in "The Wedge Issue That’s Dividing Trumpworld". Politico. August 7, 2020.

## W

* The Left has taken away all of the neutral cultural ground. This is why brands like Bud Light and Nike are giving endorsement deals to a dude in a dress... They can be baptized into wokeism and openly worship at the LGBT altar, or they can by default align themselves with conservatives... Here's what we should do: Pick a victim, gang up on it, and make an example of it. We can't boycott every woke company or even most of them. But we can pick one, it hardly matters which, and target it with a ruthless boycott campaign. Claim one scalp then move onto the next.
** Matt Walsh, quoted in "Gay and trans people deserve to live without persecution in the US. Why is that so hard?". The Guardian. April 5, 2023.
* You don’t get progress without backlash. So it’s not a coincidence that we’re seeing these anti-trans bills in the states at the same time as we’re seeing growing support. They can feel like contradictory trends, but really they are two sides of the exact same coin.
** Hannah Willard, quoted in "GOP lawmakers push historic wave of bills targeting rights of LGBTQ teens, children and their families". The Washington Post. March 25, 2022.
* Voting rights are being gutted. Women’s rights are being dismantled, books are being banned, history is being rewritten. The Supreme Court is being corrupted… the LGBT+ community is under attack.
** Oprah Winfrey, quoted in "Oprah Winfrey declares that LGBTQ+ people are ‘under attack’ in powerful graduation speech". Pink News. May 10, 2023.

## Z

* I hope the next time there's an invocation, when you bow your heads in prayer, you see the blood on your hands.
** Montana state Rep. Zooey Zephyr speaking in opposition to an anti-trans law, quoted in "‘Blood on your hands’: Montan words not unusual". AP News. April 27, 2023.

## See also

* LGBT in the United States

## External links

* Encyclopedic article on 2020s anti-LGBT movement in the United States on Wikipedia
* Media related to Category:2020s anti-LGBT movement in the United States on Wikimedia Commons