Former US secretary of state Hillary Clinton appeared to suggest that focusing on issues including the “transgender debate” could deter the electorate from voting Democrat in the 2024 presidential election.
In a wide-ranging interview with the Financial Times, the 2016 presidential candidate appeared to agree with the FT’s US national editor Edward Luce when he asked, “Democrats seem to be going out of their way to lose elections by elevating activist causes, notably the transgender debate, which are relevant only to a small minority. What sense does it make to depict JK Rowling as a fascist?”
“Losing our democracy”
While not directly addressing Mr Luce’s comments, Clinton did not dispute them, saying “We are standing on the precipice of losing our democracy, and everything that everybody else cares about then goes out the window.” She continued: ”Look, the most important thing is to win the next election. The alternative is so frightening that whatever does not help you win should not be a priority.”
Anbormal
In further worrying news for America’s LGBTQ+ communities, Republican party activists meeting in Houston, Texas, over the weekend labelled homosexuality “an abnormal lifestyle choice”, with some delegates suggesting that even mentioning sexuality to children was equivalent to “grooming”. When a delegate issued a plea for more moderate language on homosexuality, saying “We are the Republican Party of Texas, not the Westboro Baptist Church,” he was laughed at and booed by the other conference delegates.
The Log Cabin Republicans, a long-established group of gay conservatives, were banned from having a booth at the convention, drawing criticism from Donald Trump Jr.
The Houston convention also called for the repeal of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which was enacted to end discrimination against people of colour in elections, rejected calls for even the most modest gun control measures, including background checks for 18 year olds buying assault rifles, and declared the 2020 presidential election result fraudulent, labelling President Biden “an illegitimate president”.
