RNC calls for unity ring hollow for some in LGBTQ community

(WASHINGTON) — Following the assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump, unity was expected to be the hallmark of the Republican National Convention for the presidential candidate.

“I am running to be president for all of America, not half of America, because there is no victory in winning for half of America,” Trump said.

Richard Grenell, a gay man who is Trump’s former acting director of national intelligence, told audiences that Trump “doesn’t care if you’re gay or straight, Black, brown or white, or what gender you are.”

But the message of unity rings hollow for some in the LGBTQ community, who say they have repeatedly been the target of Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee, and others on the national stage.

“It can be difficult to stay hopeful when anti-LGBTQ sentiment comes to town,” said the LGBTQ group Fair Wisconsin in a post on X. It continued, “But Fair Wisconsin knows that this sentiment is not who we are. The majority of Wisconsinites support the rights of LGBTQ+ people, and with fair maps for the first time in over a decade, we’re hopeful about the opportunity to shift the tide on anti-LGBTQ+ legislation.”

There has been a record number of bills targeting the LGBTQ community in state legislatures across the country — including transgender youth care bans, restrictions on drag shows, and more — topping more than 500 bills nationwide so far in 2024, according to the ACLU.

Federal and local agencies have also expressed concerns about the growing threats and instances of violence against the community amid the increase in anti-LGBTQ rhetoric.

This comes as LGBTQ people, particularly transgender people, face higher rates of violent victimization, discrimination and bullying, according to the CDC and the Williams Institute.

Still, several RNC speakers, including Trump, openly and continuously took jabs at transgender and nonbinary people throughout the convention.

LGBTQ issues at the RNC

The LGBTQ community makes up a small population — less than 8% of people in the U.S., according to a Gallup poll — but had a large presence in the platform of RNC candidates.

Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, in referencing his view of the country during the Trump administration, said, “We were richer, inflation was low, and there were two genders.”

Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin rallied against transgender women and girls playing on women’s and girls’ sporting teams and claimed Democrats backed the “indoctrination of our children,” prompting a chorus of boos.

Trump also added that he would put an end to transgender participation in sports, claiming that “men” were playing on women’s teams. Trans sports participation has also been a source of contention among states — with supporters arguing that trans women and girls have an advantage in sports, and critics arguing they lack evidence to back up such claims of a physiological advantage.

Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., accused Democrats of “teaching our kids that there are 57 genders” and “can’t even define what a woman is,” a sentiment shared by Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders and others.

This comes as Republican legislators across the country try to create legal definitions of “women” and “men” often based on their reproductive systems — barring exceptions for intersex people.

Supporters say it promotes safety, privacy, and public data accuracy by defining sex under specific biological terms.

Critics argue that the restrictive definitions will lead governments to no longer legally recognize transgender people, as well as discrimination and inaccurate identification practices.

Vance’s record

The announcement of JD Vance as Trump’s running mate was alarming to some LGBTQ advocates, who say he has a strong anti-LGBTQ record.

At the RNC, Vance said the Republican Party is “committed to free speech and the open exchange of ideas.”

But Vance has stated that he would vote “no” on a bill to legalize same-sex marriage, and has spoken out against collecting Census data on gender identity, claiming that it is unscientific to say that people can identify with a gender — defined by the CDC as “the cultural roles, behaviors, activities, and attributes expected of people based on their sex — that does not align with their sex assigned at birth.

He also introduced the Passport Sanity Act, a bill to ban “X” gender markers on U.S. passports, and the “Protect Children’s Innocence Act” banning trans youth care including puberty blockers, hormone therapies and surgeries for the purpose of gender-affirmation.

“LGBTQ Americans are taxpayers, family members, colleagues, classmates, neighbors and friends, and our concerns are the same as any Americans: our freedom to be ourselves to live in safety and dignity, the right to make private health care decisions, read books of our choosing, marry who we love, and not be discriminated against for who we are,” said Sarah Kate Ellis, president and CEO of LGBTQ advocacy group GLAAD.

ABC News has reached out to Vance for comment on the criticism.