Despite Donald Trump's promise of "Uniting our Nation," top Republicans kicked off the 2024 Republican National Convention Monday with attacks on LGBTQ Americans, at times invoking religion, to raucous applause and approval from the GOP delegates.
“This fringe agenda includes biological males competing against girls and the sexualization and indoctrination of our children,” declared U.S. Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI), a common right-wing attack on transgender children (video below). The GOP delegates, who hours before had pumped their fists in the air and chanted "Fight! Fight! Fight!" were quick to respond to Johnson's denigrations with waves of booing.
“Today’s Democrat agenda, their policies, are a clear and present danger to America, to our institutions, our values and our people,” Johnson continued. “Democrats have forgotten American families. They’ve abandoned the hard-working middle class. But with President Trump and Republicans, those forgotten Americans are forgotten no more.”
Ron Johnson gets the RNC crowd fired up with some good old fashioned transphobia and QAnon dogwhistling
(also note that the "unity" theme is already totally out the window ... ) pic.twitter.com/sPWhn7D9qA — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 15, 2024
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U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), a self-avowed Christian nationalist, declared Trump the "founding father of the America First movement," and said, "I thank God that His hand was on President Trump" during the assassination attempt that took the life of a 50-year old retired fire chief sitting behind him.
"The establishment in Washington has sold us out," Greene went on to say. "They promised unity and delivered division. They promised peace and brought war. They promised normalcy and gave us Transgender Visibility Day on Easter Sunday," she charged, another common right wing attack that ignores Easter Sunday is on different days each year.
After the crowd booed, she continued.
"And let me state this clearly: There are only two genders," Greene declared, raising her her hand with two fingers up. "And we are made in God's image. Amen."
"And we won't shy away from speaking that simple truth, ever."
At the end of her speech, Greene vowed, "as God as my witness, He will finally give us the country we deserve. Because Donald John Trump is the leader American deserves. God bless the American people. God bless President Trump, and God bless the United States of America."
Marjorie Taylor Greene makes it 2/2 for RNC speakers pushing transphobia pic.twitter.com/hLR5q4rD8N
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 15, 2024
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Also among the opening night speakers was North Carolina Republican Lt. Governor Mark Robinson, the far-right Christian nationalist who is the GOP nominee for governor. Just two weeks ago he declared, "Some folks need killing." While he did not make any anti-LGBTQ remarks during his speech Monday night, he has a long history of viciously attacking the LGBTQ community, including calling LGBTQ people “filth.”
Reporting on the RNC's anti-LGBTQ rhetoric, NBC News notes, "Monday’s speeches take place against the backdrop of a spate of anti-LGBTQ incidents, including anti-Pride flag rhetoric and the slashing of Pride Month banners."
Chief among the anti-Pride flag rhetoric are the secretly-recorded remarks of Martha-Ann Alito, the spouse of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito.
“You know what I want?” Alito told activist and documentary filmmaker Lauren Windsor in audio published last month. “I want a Sacred Heart of Jesus flag, because I have to look across the lagoon at the Pride flag for the next month.”
Watch the videos above or at this link.
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