In Election 2024, based on polling data and supporting policies important to the LGBTQ+ community, Democratic U.S. President Joe Biden shows a leg up on former U.S. President and Republican presidential nominee for 2024, Donald Trump, with LGTBQ+ voters. “LGTBQ+ voters are key in the 2024 Election,” said Kelley Robinson, president of The Human Rights Campaign, the largest LGBTQ+ right groups in the United States. “We’re going to be the deciding factor.”

 

The Human Rights Campaign has launched a $15 million commitment to help Biden defeat Trump and his proposed anti-LGBTQ+ policies. Despite June marking Norwood Pride, an annual occasion to highlight equal justice and equal opportunity for those who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning in America, it was expected Trump’s stump speeches would continue to include language and proposals harmful to the LGBTQ+ community.

 

If Trump is re-elected, he has proposed several changes that would affect the LGTBQ+ community. Some of these include revoking Biden’s policy on gender-affirming care for trans people, and proposals to terminate Medicare and Medicaid funding for hospitals that provide gender-affirming care to trans youth. He has also said he plans to approach Congress to halt federal funds that promote or pay for gender-affirming care without distinguishing between care for adults or minors.

 

The former president has also made reference to a $22 million presidential transition project and wishlist, Project 2025. In the 900-page document, Trump proposes eliminating a long list of federal regulations on gender equality, reproductive rights, and sexual orientation. A second Trump presidency could become a wrecking ball at federal level for LGTBQ+ rights, harming gender-nonconforming people by attempting to enforce strict definitions of gender expression.

 

With Trump ignoring Pride Month, Biden was leading the LGBTQ+ vote with 68% of voters, while Trump was polling at just 15%, according to a January poll conducted by the Gayand Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD).

 

Once in office in 2020, Biden’s administration set out to undo many of the previously implemented anti-LGBTQ+ policies of the Trump administration, like expanding Title IX, a regulation of the U.S. Department of Education which aims to protect all students and employees from sexual discrimination, sexual violence, and sex-based harassment.

 

The regulation had stopped short of including trans students and athletes when it was signed. The amended rule protects against discrimination based on sexual stereotypes, sexual orientation, gender identity, and sexual characteristics, but it has come up against its fair share of hurdles. On May 26, Republican-led states announced they were suing the Biden administration over the amendment, and another federal judge subsequently put the expansion rule on hold.

 

But, LGBTQ+ political activism is not just happening at the national level. Many organizations in the North Bronx are engaging with the community on LGTBQ+ rights and getting residents to register to vote this November. The New York Public Library held a month-long celebration during Pride Month in June using literacy and creativity to connect youth and future voters in the Bronx with information on LGTBQ+ rights.

 

In June, the Wakefield Library held its first Fruity Cutie Teen Pride Party to mark Pride Month. The teens in the community came to celebrate their gender identity and learn about LGTBQ+ authors. “The term ‘fruity’ has been used as a pejorative against the Queer community,” said Jazmine Javier, library information assistant (YA). “Presently, many marginalized groups are reclaiming negative name-calling used against us as terms of endearment, and even empowerment.”

 

She added, “It is important we honor the resignification of the word and empower Wakefield’s LGBTQ+ teens.” Part of the purpose of events like that was to provide an avenue of continued engagement with teenagers in a safe space to discuss and educate, potentially making them more informed voters in the future.”

 

Trump alleges his campaign is inclusive of and incorporates people from all backgrounds. However, in response to his campaign rally held in The Bronx’s Crotona Park this past May, one voter said, “Nobody who is authentically from The Bronx is going to cosign onto homophobia and misogyny and all the things that this guy represents.”

 

But he also has his supporters. At the same rally, we spoke to attendee, Melissa Vitelli, from Brooklyn, who said in part of Trump, “He is for equality and not equity, and that’s politics, personality, politics, race, sexual orientation. He wants Americans to be American and give the right for everyone to be equal.”

 

On the topic of equality, we mentioned Trump’s support of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ so-called “Don’t Say Gay” bill, and asked Vitelli for her thoughts on it. “I also support that, even though I am gay, right?” Vitelli said. “Because it’s not a ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill. It’s a ‘Don’t Say Straight’ bill as well. It’s for adults to stop speaking sexually to children. So, just taking one part of it and trying to create a narrative is dangerous, and I’m against that.”

 

Meanwhile, Dr. Gloria Pope is chief program officer with Destination Tomorrow, the Bronx dedicated LGBTQ+ center. She has a more direct focus on the November elections, sharing that the center is “focusing on connecting our community on accessing information around voting and elections and polling information.”

 

“We know a lot of our rights are at risk for the next four years,” said Pope. “This is a very trying time, but we want to make sure that the LGTBQ+ community comes out to vote and communicates with the clients we serve. We want our rights to be ensured for our community. We want to be clear that our community will show up and show out and vote,” she said, adding that the LGBTQ+ community is large and crosses demographics like race, socio-economic status, and gender.

 

In reference to a potential second Trump term as president, Pope continued, “When we’re sitting here with a person with 34 felonies, currently and recently, how can this potential candidate get back into the office? And we already know that based on [his] rhetoric, the LGTBQ+ community is not safe and I am fearful of what will happen.”

 

*Síle Moloney contributed to this story.