By Sarah Hall
Editor
Bob Forbes remembers what things used to be like.
“When I came out, I was very selective about who I came out to. You had to find your group. There was always that fear,” said Forbes, who is now the vice president of CNY Pride. “When you went out to dinner with your partner, you took a girl along with you. You had girls you always hung out with because there was always this fear of being identified. The only time I held my partner’s hand was in New York City at Pride.”
In the last couple of decades, for the most part, that fear has been much less prevalent. Forbes said he’s felt much more comfortable being openly gay in his everyday life — but the Nov. 8 election brought back some of those old concerns.
“I’ve had three friends in Rochester who had [rainbow] flags burned since the election. People have had ‘F***, go home’ scratched into their cars. People that are Jewish and gay had [Nazi] symbols scratched into the door,” Forbes said. “There are real fears there.”
There have been a rash of hate crimes since the election. The Southern Poverty Law Center collected reports of some 700 incidents of “hateful incidents of harassment” nationwide in the week after the election, mostly targeting Muslims and immigrants. Hate crimes are up 30 percent in New York City, prompting Gov. Andrew Cuomo to announce the formation of a special task force to deal with the crimes.
But it’s not just the criminal element that the local and national LGBTQ community fears. They’re also concerned about the country’s new leadership. Vice President-Elect Mike Pence, former governor of Indiana, has a long history opposition to gay rights: In 2006, he said being gay was a choice, that gay marriage would lead to “societal collapse” and that keeping gays from marrying was not discrimination, but an enforcement of “God’s idea.” In Congress, he voted to use federal money for gay conversion therapy. As governor of Indiana, flanked by anti-gay activists, he signed a bill allowing business owners to cite their religious beliefs as a reason not to serve LGBTQ customers.
“Between Trump and Pence, Pence is worse,” Forbes said. “He’s the one who’s against everything.”
What’s at stake
In particular, youth and young adults are concerned about their futures under a Trump-Pence administration. In the days after the election, Mother Jones reported that the two largest LGBTQ youth-focused suicide hotlines saw a huge spike in calls; the Trevor Project received more texts, calls and online messages on Nov. 9 than it had received on a single day in four years, while the Trans Hotline got about five times the number of calls that day than it usually does.
According to staff from The Q Center, a branch of ACR Health in Syracuse focused on serving LGBTQ youth and young adults, those fears aren’t just for their personal safety, though that certainly plays a part.
“They feel as though their safety and well-being is at risk as a result of the election. Many have experienced bullying or hate crimes in the past and feel as though this will become acceptable behavior,” said Elliot Sharrow, program manager for the Q Center’s Utica office.
But they’re more concerned about losing the rights on which they’ve come to rely.
“I have talked to at least 35 clients about what it might mean,” Sharrow said. “They expressed concerns for their right to get married, which bathroom they might have to use, their insurance coverage, their right to healthcare, their overall safety.”
Mattie Barone, an educator in the Q Center’s Syracuse office, has heard many of the same concerns.
“They asked about protections for themselves in New York state in case things like marriage equality were overturned or in case we saw things like HB2 in North Carolina [the so-called ‘Bathroom Bill’] start popping up,” she said. “They are genuinely scared.”
Among the primary concerns are marriage equality and healthcare. The Supreme Court issued a ruling in June of 2015 recognizing same-sex marriage as a legal right. Trump has said he will not challenge the ruling, but given Pence’s record, advocates are still worried it will be overturned.
“There are married partners, people who’ve lived together for 30 years, thinking, ‘This is the person who’s going to take care of me and be with me for last rites. What if that gets pulled again?’” Forbes said. “It’s back to ‘what if.’ That’s the fear we’re hearing.”
Meanwhile, one of Trump’s campaign promises — one that has also been long pledged by House Republicans, who now hold a majority — is to repeal the Affordable Care Act, under which many of the Q Center’s patrons receive health insurance. The ACA prohibits discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation, which is particularly important for transgender people, who often face discrimination when seeking healthcare. While it remains to be seen what will happen, LGBTQ youth, in particular, are scared.
“I had one youth even tell me that nothing was going to be safe again in their mind,” Barone said. “That broke my heart.”
Turning anger into action
For now, the Q Center is available to provide counseling and other resources to local LGBTQ youth and young adults who are struggling.
“We have support groups in which they have been discussing their emotions as a result of the election, and some clients have stopped in to have one-on-one conversations with staff,” Sharrow said. “Some have been referred to therapists who can offer more in-depth services.”
Barone said the center is also helping clients focus on how to better advocate for themselves in the future.
“It’s been a hard process for all of them, but I’m just glad they’re coming here and they’re talking to us openly,” she said.
It’s important for the community to show their support, as well.
“Stand by them,” Sharrow said. “Let them know that hate is not acceptable. Show them that they have allies and that their existence has value and that they are valuable.”
Barone agreed.
“Stand up in situations of injustice and teach our kids to do the same,” she said. “LGBTQ youth feel more alone than ever right now, and it is our job to let them know that they are not. If you see or hear something that you know is wrong, don’t passively sit by and let it continue.”
Sharrow also suggested contacting state and federal legislators to urge them to stand up for legislation like the Affordable Care Act, Title IX, the Dignity for All Students Act (DASA) and the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act (GENDA), a bill before the New York State Legislature that would prevent discrimination based on gender identity or expression. He pointed out that, while New York has a history of progressive legislation, the community still needs to advocate for LGBTQ people.
“Nothing is certain,” he said. “We currently have a governor that is supportive, but there is an election in two years and that is concerning to many within the community as to what that may mean for LGBTQ New Yorkers.”
Meanwhile, both Forbes and Barone said they’re working to focus their dissatisfaction with the election results into action. Forbes is starting a chapter of Organization for America (OFA), the grassroots organization started by President Barack Obama, in Syracuse; he hosted a kickoff event at the University United Methodist Church on Nov. 19 that encouraged action on LGBTQ rights, women’s rights, health care and gun violence. Shortly before the event, he and several other OFA volunteers spoke to the president himself over the phone.
“He called us to thank us for work we’d done and say this [election] was not what we thought,” Forbes said. “He said we all have a right to have fear. We have a right to be angry. He said, ‘I’m going to give you a few days, but by the weekend, before you sit down to the family table for Thanksgiving when you have some kind of conversation about the election, you need to move that angry into some kind of action.’ He said it’s a process that doesn’t always follow a straight line, but ultimately it moves in the direction of justice.”
Forbes said he hoped his work with OFA would help bring the community together in the face of divisive political rhetoric.
Barone said she’s still struggling with her own feelings about the election.
“I’m still mad as hell about this election,” she said, “but if I stay stuck in that, I can’t work to advocate for change for my community. So my anger and sadness has fueled me to work harder to be a change agent in my community.”
Related: Vera House counsels sexual assault survivors in the wake of Trump’s election
