If you think LGBTQ people should be respectful to people like Ronald Reagan and Billy Graham, you're actively valuing politeness to the ruling class over the rampant conservative discrimination and anti-LGBTQ policies the right targeted then with.
Basically, you're garbage
Basically, you're garbage
"ooh it's not polite to make jokes about a dead politician" but you know, all their horrid policies and open offensive towards LGBTQ people is alright, right? Our society values civil discourse as more important than condemning injustice, and it's gross
I think what's even more disgusting than the initial disregarding of the treatment LGBTQ people received is the weaponization of LGBTQ anger against them. Right wing bigots use queer anger to present them as negatives - "rude" "intolerant" "forceful" and the rest.
The repugnant use of terms like "gay agenda" and "trans lobby" can be seen here. Conservative anti-LGBTQ groups dedicated to pummeling LGBTQ people into the ground smear them with talk of "disrespect for Reagan" as though hating right wing bigots is somehow a bad thing
And because of the way our society functions, where as a society we see any opinion as part of the "marketplace of ideas" but talk of violence or dissent as "unacceptable", we see many centrists and liberals be angrier at LGBTQ people for being happy a monster died
It's how the left get presented as a threat a lot. Right wing - often far right - groups ignore the conditions that cause the anger and distaste and instead frame the conversation as a lash out without cause. It allows them to pretend they are the rational actor
Because after all, when you can frame your opponents as "irrational" and "dangerous", and you can lump them together as LGBTQ people... it makes acting against them significantly easier. You can turn the tide of the public by framing LGBTQ as evil, like the right often does
And then justify the horrific policies of Ronald Reagan, the terrifying rhetoric of Billy Graham; and the war being waged by Trump's administration on LGBTQ people today.
There is always a wider people - the far right want LGBTQ people gone, and will take any means to do so
There is always a wider people - the far right want LGBTQ people gone, and will take any means to do so
So essentially it's crucial we understand the context of which people condemn and abhor conservative politicians with clear anti-LGBTQ ideas, and refuse to offer them any sympathy over their targets - because the second we do, we load the gun fascists are waiting to fire
LGBTQ people matter more than dead conservative scumbags and if you seriously want to defend the legacy of repulsive, actively harmful politicians over the marginalized people they targeted, take a long look in the mirror at yourself.
