Statements from national LGBT organizations usually come in fast and furiously after any event. This morning, (Wednesday, Nov. 9) they’ve been slower.
On Twitter, George Takei said, “The unthinkable happened before, to my family in WWII. We got thru it. We held each other close. We kept our dignity and held to our ideals.”
Queerty ran a very stark headline:
The Next Four Years Are Going To Be Awful. How Awful Is Anyone’s Guess.
Here are some of the organizational responses:
Rachel Tiven, CEO Lambda Legal:
Our beautiful, slowly improving, two-steps-forward-one-step-back country took a giant step backward yesterday.
We lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people made America see love and sex and family differently. In 2004, George W. Bush won the election by vilifying us — and we fought back. We fought back so successfully that we helped elect an African-American president who lit the White House in rainbow, who chose an attorney general who said to the transgender community, “…the Department of Justice and the entire Obama administration wants you to know that we see you; we stand with you; and we will do everything we can to protect you going forward.”
And now this.
It hurts. As a woman, a Jew, a queer it hurts that so many people yearn for a white, straight, Christian America that never existed. It hurts that ambition is a bad thing for a woman to have. It hurts that we have made our country a more perfect union, but the racism built into our founding has still not been repealed, and the civil war is still not over.
Lambda Legal will hold the line when our rights are under attack. We know how to fight the government in the courts when the other branches are closed off — we did it in those dark years after 2004, and still we made progress. We will do it again now — and this time Americans know who we are and stand with us.
We will fight back in our beautiful diversity and without compromise. We will fight back as LGBT people of color, Muslims, immigrants and refugees. As my friend Cristina Jimenez, head of the immigration leader United We Dream, wrote early this morning, we are here to stay.
The Trevor Project:
The Trevor Project, like many others, is surprised by the outcome of this year’s election. We have endured one of the toughest campaigns this country has ever experienced, and we are now facing a new reality. But despite everything, we know that we have dealt with challenges before, and we have overcome them.
While today many of us may be uncertain about what’s to come, we must remember that our work does not begin or end with the presidency. It’s in our families and communities and workplaces. It’s in our everyday interactions. This election brought our country’s deep divisions into sharp relief. More than ever, we need to go high. We need to understand why so many citizens feel disenfranchised and disconnected from the progress, multiculturalism and optimism we have experienced over the past several years. We must remember that life is full of struggle and possibility, including the possibility of a future that is much brighter than the one we woke up to.
Our youth are looking to us to steer the way forward for them. The Trevor Project has been here for the past 18 years, through thick and thin, saving young lives. We are committed to playing a leadership role in continuing to make the world a brighter place for our youth. We are dedicated to protecting LGBTQ and all youth and to proving that every person matters and that the future matters.
The best thing we can all do is to channel our frustration and disappointment into helping to make progress and to being there for each other – and for our youth. Reach out and tell the young people in your life that you care about them. Ask them how they are feeling and how you can help them. The time is now – the future is ours!
Kate Kendell, executive director National Center for Lesbian Rights:
By a slim margin, this nation has elected a demagogue who trafficked in bigotry, stoked racist hatred and normalized misogyny. The election of Donald Trump as President threatens basic principles of human dignity and justice. Many of our most cherished values—inclusion, honoring difference, embracing equality, dismantling oppressive systems — are in jeopardy, but we will not be deterred. This is the moment we are called to resist. We are about to be tested as never before, and speaking for myself, and NCLR, we will not stand down, sit idle or be silent in the face of oppression, bullying or threat. This election result is devastating for our nation and especially for the most vulnerable. But we will fight on and will never give up. We must be the ones we are waiting for. Together, we fight on and we fight back. We must harness our grief, fear and outrage and serve justice.
