Thread by @ErinInTheMorn

1. Lots of talk about the Pride Flag embassy ban.

I want to give context, as I reported heavily on anti-LGBTQ+ riders in the budget fight.

1) Biden/Dems deserve the criticism they are getting on this rider.
2) Over 40+ horrific targeted anti-LGBTQ+ riders died, except this one.

https://twitter.com/business/status/1770868453856932081

2. I first reported on the idea that Democrats might surrender transgender and LGBTQ+ rights in the budget fight when I was tipped off on the negotiations by insiders. At the time, I received heavy blowback for reporting it, saying "they never would."

erininthemorning.com/p/national-ant…

3. It became clear, though, that this was going to become a major battleground. Representative Crenshaw said "this is the hill we will die on" while literally holding up funding for every children's hospital in the country that allows for trans care (MANY do).

4. In September, it was reported that the government was hurtling towards a shutdown over "social issue riders" in the NDAA, HHS, VA, FDA, and more bills.

erininthemorning.com/p/will-republi…

5. The provisions that started coming out were horrific.
- National trans sports ban
- National gender affirming care ban through private insurance
- Government ID doc bans
- Title IX bans
- Religious right to refuse care
- Removal of anti-discrimination law
- Military ban

6. There were over 40 provisions in all. As someone who has covered the anti-trans legislation in state houses, I knew that Republicans were serious about this - they have been driven to drastic, precedent breaking action across the United States over this.

7. Here's one provision, for instance... this would have banned ALL HHS funding for trans care, which includes the private marketplace!

8. Here's another! No hospital in the country would have been allowed to provide gender affirming care for trans youth.

9. The first batch of 6 funding bills came out and none of them had anti-LGBTQ+ riders. Thank god, I thought, they were not compromising on this. I had good sourcing saying that anti-LGBTQ+ provisions were something that COULD be compromised on.

10. However, the latter appropriations bills were the ones with the bad provisions... HHS, Ed, and more... these are the ones where the anti-LGBTQ+ riders could be devastating.

And sure enough, Republicans issued a shutdown threat over them.

erininthemorning.com/p/republicans-…

11. Here was the letter from the freedom caucus on their biggest social issues riders priorities:

12. I was anticipating, when the national budget came out yesterday, that at least a handful of Democrats would budge on a major anti-trans provision. There were over 40 according to the Congressional Equality Caucus, of which 168 Dems signed a letter opposing the riders.

13. So... the appropriations bill came out yesterday and I CTRL+F'd.

And nowhere to be found were the words "hormone," "gender affirming," "LGBT," "Pride," etc.

But of course, I typed in "flag."

And we got this:

14. This essentially bans Pride Flags (and other flags) from being "flown or displayed" "over" embassies abroad.

It is a shameful return to Trump-administration LGBTQ+ policy on embassies.

15. During that era, a similar rule existed. Embassies responded by painting the embassies in Pride colors, or by hanging flags "on the side" rather than "above." See here:

16. Now, how do we react to all of this?

On one hand, as I have tracked the legislation, the moment I saw there was no sports ban, no bathroom ban, no title IX ban, no trans care ban, no "US can't prosecute anti-trans laws" ban... I have to admit I was relieved. But then...

17. Why compromise at all on Pride flags? Pride flags would not have made or broke the national budget. If Republicans would have threatened, "No deal if there are Pride flags involved in it, we will shut down the government," they would have looked absolutely insane.

18. Speaking with others, I think that the compromise is troubling not because of the physical impact - it's not super impactful, clearly. It's troubling because it is a signal that these are things we are willing to trade away, and that maybe those other things can be negotiated

19. Pride flags are symbolic. Honestly, there's a lot of criticism about the ways that orgs and companies and the US Government waves pride flags only to not support LGBTQ+ people.

But when the symbols themselves become a tool for compromise, alarm bells go off.

20. All that said, Dems held in a way I honestly didn't think they would. I had pegged the budget fight as a potential major inflection point where a lot of horrible anti-LGBTQ+ riders could come crashing down. That didn't happen.

All that said, I will keep covering the budget fight as we get to September, when this will all rear its head again.

I am a journalist covering anti-LGBTQ+ legislation every day. You can subscribe to support my work at erininthemorning.com/subscribe