Windy City Media Group Frontpage News

THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

home search facebook twitter join
Gay News Sponsor Windy City Times 2023-12-13
DOWNLOAD ISSUE
Donate

Sponsor
Sponsor
Sponsor

  WINDY CITY TIMES

LETTERS Trump's fail
2017-05-24

This article shared 447 times since Wed May 24, 2017
facebook twitter google +1 reddit email


Trump's "Religious Liberty" Fail Shows That He Can Be Stopped

As a real-estate developer, President Donald Trump was no doubt used to saying "Build It!" and, after dispensing with pesky zoning and NIMBY matters, getting others to do so forthwith.

Not so with his Muslim ban and, now, his nixed "religious liberty" executive order to discriminate against LGBTQs and women who had abortions and/or used contraceptives.

Months after the religious right's orgasmic anticipation of Trump's gift to them, the "thrice-married, porn-loving, pussy-grabbing" creep totally disappointed them. The recent executive order was widely seen as a banal reassertion of current law, and not the wholesale assault on equal employment rights and access to public accommodations that religious bigots lobbied heavily for and wanted.

There are three important lessons for the left to draw from this:

1 ) Right-wing creeps—including "the most powerful man in the world," aka U.S. presidents—can be defeated through popular mobilizations.

The social movements of the 1960s exemplified this a generation ago in defeating the most ideologically right-wing president seen in modern times: Richard Nixon. Forcing a wind-down of the U.S. war in Southeast Asia, the enactment of affirmative action and food stamps, the legalization of abortion, and a wave of environmental legislation such as the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts—time and again, Nixon was forced to do things he didn't want to.

2 ) The catastrophic pronouncements of some on the left that a Trump presidency meant the inauguration of fascism, or something close to it, are once again shown to be cartoonish. If Trump truly was der Fuhrer, he would have ordered the bigoted change, and simply rounded up or murdered any who stood in his way.

Fortunately, the fact that we still do have ( yes, quite circumscribed ) formal democracy means that we can speak out, protest and take more aggressive direct action and live to take action another day. And in this case we can win—all without seriously risking life and limb. In a true fascist state, any individual, including even ruling-class people, who publicly voiced the mildest opposition would have found themselves imprisoned, if not dead.

3 ) As the Nixon example shows, what is won today is never permanent under capitalism. While we won many things despite Nixon, we lost many of them during subsequent administrations, both Democratic and Republican. So while we have defeated Trump for now, we will have to fight hard against him and his successors to preserve this win, and we won't ultimately guarantee it until we live in a society that is truly democratically run by everyone—and that values everyone.

Gay Liberation Network


This article shared 447 times since Wed May 24, 2017
facebook twitter google +1 reddit email

Out and Aging
Presented By

  ARTICLES YOU MIGHT LIKE

Gay News

Without compromise: Holly Baggett explores lives of iconoclasts Margaret Anderson and Jane Heap 2024-03-04
- Jane Heap (1883-1964) and Margaret Anderson (1886-1973), each of them a native Midwesterner, woman of letters and iconoclast, had a profound influence on literary culture in both America and Europe in the early 20th Century. Heap ...


Gay News

Theater Review: one in two 2023-03-01
- Playwright: Donja R. Love. At: PrideArts at Pride Arts Center, 4139 N. Broadway Tickets: 773-857-0222; $35. Runs through March 19 Playwright Donja R. Love stresses that lower case letters should be used for the title of ...


Gay News

New York Times publishes transphobic column one day after an open letter condemning anti-trans coverage, HRC responds 2023-02-16
--From a press release - WASHINGTON— This morning, the New York Times published yet another opinion piece attacking the transgender and non-binary community. The piece, "In Defense of J.K. Rowling" was written by Pamela Paul and was published merely one day ...


Gay News

Showrunners send abortion-protection letters to Hollywood execs 2022-08-02
- Recently, more than 400 TV creators and showrunners—all of them women (including Shonda Rhimes, Issa Rae, Amy Sherman-Palladino, Natasha Lyonne and Ava DuVernay)—sent letters to top executives at Hollywood studios ...


Gay News

VIEWPOINT: LETTERS Pride: Remembering who we are 2022-05-30
- The LGBTQAI community echoes the mantra of secular society: Happiness comes from sex, money and power. Life is too busy with work and leisure to have time for religion and/or values. During this period of Pride ...


Gay News

THEATER Underscore's 'Notes & Letters' running through May 28 2022-05-12
- Underscore Theatre Company celebrates its 10th-anniversary season with the world premiere of the musical Notes & Letters, which features book, music and lyrics by Annabelle Lee Revak (she/her) and is ...


Gay News

LETTERS A difference in opinion about Vatican document 2022-04-07
- I am responding to DignityUSA Executive Director Marianne Duddy-Burks, who issued a press release that Windy City Times published. A newly released document from the Vatican's Congregation for Catholic Education could trigger a new wave of ...


Gay News

LETTER Remembering Archbishop Tutu 2021-12-28
- Archbishop Desmond Tutu passed away in Cape Town, South Africa, on Dec. 26 at the age of 90. In 1984, he won the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of his efforts to bring about a peaceful transition to a society with ...


Gay News

LETTER TO THE EDITOR Thanksgiving is a time to reflect 2021-11-24
- Thanksgiving is a time to be thankful for a God that created us and loves us. The sins of racism, sexism, ageism and classicism are neoclassic examples of how we have fallen short. We have come ...


Gay News

VIEWS In defense of the word 'lesbian' 2021-11-19
- When I decided to come out to my mom, I wanted to wait until I could say the word "lesbian" out loud. But as I sat her down, I tripped over the long string of letters. "Mom, I'm gay," I blurted ...


Gay News

LETTER TO THE EDITOR Opinion: The parade must go on 2021-09-02
- I am responding to the letter from Tim Frye, the current 2021 coordinator of Chicago's Pride Parade, about the cancellation of the event that was scheduled for Oct. 3. I agree that this decision takes in ...


Gay News

LETTER A matter of race 2021-05-20
- I applaud Mayor Lori Lightfoot's courageous statement on only giving one-on-one interviews to journalists of color. She obviously wants to see a public dialogue on this matter. White privilege is a topic we must look at ...


Gay News

Hate mail threatening Obamas, Biden, Harris sent to DuSable 2021-04-28
- The Secret Service is investigating six threatening letters sent to the DuSable Museum of African American History that mention President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and the Obama family, among others, The Chicago Tribune reported. ...


Gay News

LETTER The Vatican's words and actions do not echo love 2021-03-18
- The LGBTQA community is responding with shock, anger and frustration at the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith statement concerning same-sex unions. Many in our community can't understand why Pope Francis would allow such a ...


Gay News

LETTER Federal anti-discrimination protection? Inevitable 2021-02-06
- =The astute can predict the future with more than a modicum of confidence by examining history. Nate Silver did this last year at fivethirtyeight.com, as did Vegas oddsmakers, in predicting the victory of President Joe Biden over der ...


 


Copyright © 2024 Windy City Media Group. All rights reserved.
Reprint by permission only. PDFs for back issues are downloadable from
our online archives.

Return postage must accompany all manuscripts, drawings, and
photographs submitted if they are to be returned, and no
responsibility may be assumed for unsolicited materials.

All rights to letters, art and photos sent to Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago
Gay and Lesbian News and Feature Publication) will be treated
as unconditionally assigned for publication purposes and as such,
subject to editing and comment. The opinions expressed by the
columnists, cartoonists, letter writers, and commentators are
their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay,
Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature Publication).

The appearance of a name, image or photo of a person or group in
Nightspots (Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times
(a Chicago Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature
Publication) does not indicate the sexual orientation of such
individuals or groups. While we encourage readers to support the
advertisers who make this newspaper possible, Nightspots (Chicago
GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay, Lesbian
News and Feature Publication) cannot accept responsibility for
any advertising claims or promotions.

 
 

TRENDINGBREAKINGPHOTOS







Sponsor


 



Donate


About WCMG      Contact Us      Online Front  Page      Windy City  Times      Nightspots
Identity      BLACKlines      En La Vida      Archives      Advanced Search     
Windy City Queercast      Queercast Archives     
Press  Releases      Join WCMG  Email List      Email Blast      Blogs     
Upcoming Events      Todays Events      Ongoing Events      Bar Guide      Community Groups      In Memoriam     
Privacy Policy     

Windy City Media Group publishes Windy City Times,
The Bi-Weekly Voice of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Trans Community.
5315 N. Clark St. #192, Chicago, IL 60640-2113 • PH (773) 871-7610 • FAX (773) 871-7609.