Summary
LGBTQ Americans are deeply concerned about Donald Trump’s second term, citing his anti-LGBTQ rhetoric, policies, and ties to conservative groups like the Heritage Foundation.
His past actions and campaign ads targeting trans individuals have raised fears of eroding healthcare access, legal protections, and rights, especially for transgender people.
Trump’s alignment with the Project 2025 agenda, which promotes rolling back LGBTQ rights, heightens anxiety, despite his appointment of an openly gay treasury secretary.
Advocates warn of significant societal and legal repercussions.
So ok I’ve been hearing the arming argument, but what situation exactly would we use it? Is this for a hypothetical civil war? Or to defend yourself from far right mobs? These are the only two scenarios which it would seem to make sense; and they seem mostly far fetched. Anything less than that is just a great way for the police to add charges and or give them an excuse to shoot you.
The second, and it’s far more likely than you think. See the Tulsa Massacre, Chicago Race Riots, Rosewood Massacre, and the Wilmington Insurrection as depressing examples.
Better to be judged by twelve than carried by six. To me, it’s solid advice (so long as the individual can own a firearm responsibly, which is an individual decision) for individuals of minority groups to arm themselves.
The majority of situations will be like the other commenter said: arm yourself to protect yourself against groups looking to do you harm. It won’t surprise me to hear about groups of bigots rolling up on LGBTQ+ clubs and following people home to attack/assault/kill them, or if we see more Pulse Nightclub shooting events.
Remember, Reagan pushed for gun control as the Gov of California only after the Black Panthers started carrying weapons to their rallies. Yeah, push comes to shove, the police/government have way bigger and better weapons than the average American.
But that was true back then too, and it still scared the government enough to pass firearm restrictions. Peaceful protests can remain a lot more peaceful when the police know the other side is packing too. (I say CAN because obviously once weapons are introduced to any situation, violence is introduced as a potential consequence)
No one wants to be the first one shot, even if you’ve got a tank/machine gun behind you as backup.