The 21st Show

Best of: Anti-LGBTQ rhetoric is on the rise

Produced by Christine Hatfield
 
A sign-carrying anti-gay protester is surrounded by a sea of Pride umbrellas during the Pride parade in Winston-Salem, N.C., June 18, 2022. Hateful references to gays, lesbians and other LGBTQ Americans on social media surged following Florida's adoption of a law restricting how teachers can talk about sexual orientation with younger students.

A sign-carrying anti-gay protester is surrounded by a sea of Pride umbrellas during the Pride parade in Winston-Salem, N.C., June 18, 2022. Hateful references to gays, lesbians and other LGBTQ Americans on social media surged following Florida's adoption of a law restricting how teachers can talk about sexual orientation with younger students. AP Photo/Skip Foreman, File)

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In light of the recent mass shooting at an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado, we decided to revisit a conversation we had last month about the rise in hatred that many organizations and events representing the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer communities in Illinois have felt. There is often heated rhetoric behind the harassment. A common and false narrative is that LGBTQ people are “groomers," people who build emotional connections with children to exploit and abuse them. In the Chicago suburbs, UpRising Cafe and Bakery in Lake of The Hills became a target earlier this summer.

For a conversation covering the history of rights for those marginalized within the U.S., the harassment of LGBTQ+ communities, and more, we were joined by representatives of organizations that fight for social justice and the founder of an Illinois LGBTQ newspaper.

This conversation originally aired October 12, 2022.

Guests:

Tom Wray

Founder & Editor, Illinois Eagle 

Mony Ruiz-Velasco

Deputy Director, Equality Illinois

Suzanne Rothenberg

Associate Regional Director of Strategy and Growth, ADL Midwest

 

 

Prepared for web by Owen Henderson

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