Americans elected Donald Trump to be their president for the next four years. These are going to be long, hurtful years for members of the queer community in the United States and other people both in and outside the country.
Trump, a serial liar, rampant xenophobe, racist, misogynist and birther who has repeatedly pledged to ban all Muslims — 1.6 billion members of an entire religion — from entering the Unites States, has made it clear that he wants to assign judges to the Supreme Court that will overturn marriage equality, he supports “religious freedom” laws that allow for the discrimination of gay and transgender people, he promised to repeal the Affordable Health Care Act (“Obamacare”) which ensures that HIV-positive patients can afford their medication and he supports transphobic “bathroom laws”.
His Vice President Mike Pence is in favour of so called conversion therapy to “cure” gay people. Pence also signed a bill that would put gay people in jail for applying for a marriage license.
Hate crimes against both racial and sexual minorities are expected to increase in the wake of the election. Trump’s campaign was also identified as a key inspiration for a new wave of bullying against Muslim children in schools.
Trump’s first decision after his election was to put a climate change denier in charge of his US Environmental Protection Agency transition team. Other posts are expected to be filled almost exclusively with industry lobbyists. On the 28th of November the President-elect will have to testify in his fraud trial.