For the past two years, Trump's presidency has been very contentious across the globe with his seemingly uneducated and spur of the moment decisions affecting both America and other nations. However, with the 2020 presidential election in the near future, Trump is doing all he can to ensure a big win and re-election.
On February 19th it was announced that Trump's administration is launching a global effort to end the criminalization of homosexuality in places across the world where it is still illegal to be gay. With the one openly gay member of Trump's administration pushing for this worldwide change, it may seem as though the effort should be supported by everyone, but it's still necessary to break down why that shouldn't be the case.
Back on June 26th, 2015 when the Supreme Court declared marriage equality the law of the land, many people believed there were officially equal rights for the gay members of the LGBTQ+ community and no more work needed to be done in America. Unfortunately though, to many people's surprise, just because something becomes a law doesn't mean people will always follow the spirit of it.
Currently, in the United States, only 15 states have banned conversion therapy, a dangerous tactic used to convert gay people into being straight. 42 states have no explicit laws permitting gay couples to adopt children of their own. 11 states have Medicaid policies that exclude health coverage for transgender people. Hate crime laws in 16 states do not cover those directed towards members of the LGBTQ+ community.
Obviously, we have some work to do.
It's only been four years since a large portion of the country came to terms with some equality for people of different sexualities, so we can't assume that homosexuality has been decriminalized even within our own nation.
Even our own president has refused to recognize June as National Pride Month and has banned transgender people from joining the military. With that being said, we have some domestic issues we need to tidy up before we can think about helping anybody else.
On the surface, it's a great idea, honestly. There are obviously underlying political factors, with Trump's ties with Iran playing a big role, but decriminalizing homosexuality is a statement that seems to come with good intentions.
Like many things in politics, though, just because there are good intentions doesn't mean action needs to be taken right away. Many people, even many Americans, like to pick and choose which part of the LGBTQ+ community they want to acknowledge and which they could "do without." However, there are people that understand that isn't quite how it works.
We are lucky to live in what is considered a more progressive country, not only in terms of gay and transgender rights but regarding race and economic needs and voting rights as well. There are without a doubt a lot of other countries that need major reform, and maybe in the future, the best way to go about that is by having influence and political pressure from the United States government. It's way past my educated abilities to determine whether that would be in the best interest of America and the other nations involved, but nonetheless, it's not right for us to be involved right now.
I'm happy that a member of the Trump administration is pushing for gay rights, although it may not include our own country directly. However, there's still a lot of change that needs to be made before we can think in terms of global reform.
When we get to a place in our society where gay women can adopt as easily as a straight couple and the f-word isn't used as a funny way to haze frat boys, then we can bring this conversation to the table. As for now, gay Americans deserve support from our government much more than gay Iranians do.
