"Carte blanche to enact violence": Expert warns that Trump's pardons will fuel anti-LGBTQ+ extremism

[marmar]

(Salon) President Donald Trump's first days in office have seen many Americans' freedoms rolled back at a lightning pace as he has fired off dozens of executive orders reversing Biden-era policies on everything from diversity policies to who has the right to call themselves a citizen.

On Day 1, Trump unilaterally defined sex so as to exclude gender-expansive people and include references implicating fetal personhood, setting the stage for a national ban on abortion and emergency contraception. Meanwhile, a flurry of actions sought to restrict opportunities for people seeking refuge in the United States, as well as targeting their children by attempting to end birthright citizenship, suspending asylum and refugee resettlement, and sending troops to the U.S.-Mexico border to deter irregular crossings. He also began his presidency by pardoning some 1,500 far-right supporters serving sentences for storming the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

In a moment marked by levels of political violence unseen in decades — including two attempts on Trump's own life last year — the president's moves lay the foundation for such violence to flourish under his administration — and attacks on transgender people will be at the forefront of it, argues Imara Jones, CEO and founder of TransLash Media and host of "The Anti-Trans Hate Machine" podcast, which most recently chronicled the links between far-right paramilitary groups and anti-trans hate at the local level.

Data makes the threat clear, she said: 2023 saw the highest number of active anti-LGBTQ+ and white nationalist groups ever recorded, according to a Southern Poverty Law Center report that documented 86 anti-LGBTQ+ hate groups and 166 white nationalist chapters. The report also found that nearly 50% of white power demonstrations held in 2023 targeted LGBTQ+ people. .................(more)

https://www.salon.com/2025/01/29/carte-blanche-to-enact-violence-expert-warns-that-pardons-will-fuel-anti-lgbtq-extremism/

[Oneironaut]

1. If you're LGBTQ+ these days, you're on your own.

No one is going to stop the government from full-on attacking your rights, or, possibly you physically. They won’t even voice opposition to it. It’s a sad reality. Organize now.