Do we really need an LGBTQ townhall for Democratic candidates? I don't think so

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/oct/10/i-like-being-pandered-to-but-i-still-think-a-democratic-lgbtq-town-hall-is-a-bad-idea

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On 10 October, nine Democratic candidates for president will do something that has never been done before: over the course of four and a half hours, they will talk about LGBTQ issues on national TV as part of the first-ever CNN homosexual and adjacent town hall.

Only four and a half hours? The climate change town hall got a full seven hours, and really, what’s more important, climate change or queer rights? Sure, climate change will impact everyone on this planet, but, hello, the cast of Queer Eye deserves to have their concerns heard! I’m joking of course, but the point still stands: an entire televised town hall dedicated to us seems counterproductive, for many reasons.

I’m a member of the LGBTQ “community”, if you can really call a population that disagrees on basically everything except our superiority a “community”, and as much as I appreciate potential world leaders pandering to me, I cannot think of a worse way for these people to spend their time. A Democratic LGBTQ town hall would be like Republicans holding a town hall on Ronald Reagan: they all agree! There’s about as much daylight between their positions on, say, Trump’s ban on trans people in the military as there is in the Mariana Trench. It would be more interesting to watch a town hall on something the candidates actually disagree about, like emotional support animals on planes or whether or not boot-cut jeans should make a comeback. We already know who the best is on LGBTQ rights: all of them! Especially compared with Donald Trump.

LGBTQ people are not a monolith. We all have different values and opinions on public policy, and there are fierce debates within this population on matters ranging from trans people in sports to whether or not same-sex marriage is actually good for queer people. The candidates at this forum don’t understand that – and why would they? Aside from Mayor Pete (who, according to some of the queer press, hardly counts), these are just not their issues. Attempting to wade into them on a live TV broadcast will just show actual queer people how little they get it.

By participating, the Democratic candidates will ultimately hurt their chances of beating Donald Trump, which will only, in the end, do much greater harm to queer people

We saw this at a forum on LGBTQ issues in Iowa. Joe Biden, for instance, said that prisoners should be housed based on their “sexual identity”. What he should have said was “gender identity”, but instead, he made it sound like he was in favor of housing prisoners based on who they have sex with. It’s a crazy idea, but if Biden wins, I can’t wait to see what the gay men do with their wing at Sing Sing.

Biden isn’t alone in these gaffes. At an early debate, Julián Castro talked about the need for “trans females” to access abortion, when what he should have said was “trans men”, a population that generally does not like being called “female”. And Elizabeth Warren listed her pronouns on her Twitter bio, but she wrote “she/hers” instead of “she/her”. Such mistakes show she/her ignorance. By even trying, Warren and the others give ample ammunition to Donald Trump.

And there’s a bigger downside than getting terminology and pronouns wrong: whatever the candidates say at that forum will come back and haunt them. If Warren talks about the need for states to offer an “X” on driver’s licenses for people who identify as nonbinary – something she’s already endorsed – the attack ads will just write themselves. Nonbinary driver’s licenses might play well in solidly blue cities and states, but thanks to the electoral college, Warren or Biden or Sanders or whoever wins the primary will have to appeal to a few moderate swing districts in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan to win the general election. This not how it should be, but it’s the reality of the system that we have, and the Democrats need to start recognizing it.

Are LGBTQ issues important? Of course. LGBTQ people still face discrimination in society and law, as well as disproportionate rates of homelessness and poverty. Some families still reject their queer children, some churches still refuse to recognize same-sex marriage, and in many states, it’s still perfectly legal to fire people or deny them housing simply because of their sexuality or gender identity. All of this shows that, as much as progress has been made in recent years, there is still more to be done. But by participating in this event, the Democratic candidates will ultimately hurt their chances of beating Donald Trump, which will only, in the end, do much greater harm to queer people.

As I see it, the only possible winners here are Bernie Sanders and Andrew Yang, who, citing scheduling conflicts, send their regrets. And Donald Trump, who, I imagine, will be watching.