If You Weren't Already Freaking Out About Trump, Pence Should Set Your Gay Soul On Fire

Here’s the thing: it’s election season, and everything feels like it’s horrible. It seems like month after month is filled with bad news, and we’re getting exhausted. But we can’t give in just yet. We have to keep fighting all the bad.

Why? Because a Trump/Pence presidency could be very much on the horizon, and we, as a community, simply can’t afford to let that happen.

So let’s talk a little bit about what having Pence as our potential VP candidate means.

• He’s worse than Donald Trump when it comes to LGBT issues.

• We repeat: he’s somehow worse than DONALD TRUMP for our community.

• Pence thinks being gay is a choice. Right off the bat he’s clearly not well versed in queer issues.

• According to TIME, Pence said that “societal collapse was always brought about following an advent of the deterioration of marriage and family.” Lovely.

• Pence said trans people being able to use or not use the bathroom shouldn’t be a federal issue, but should rather be up to the states. Read: he doesn’t care about trans issues even in the most *basic* of ways.

• Once critical of Trump, he was quick to backpedal when he realized he could benefit tremendously from a Trump presidency.

And it doesn’t get any better.

• According to Mother Jones, Pence is anti-living wage, anti-healthcare for children of low income families, and anti-helping low income families pay rent. So if you’re LGBTQ+ and low income, he basically doesn’t give a damn about making sure you can survive.

• Pence believes that gay people shouldn’t be able to get married and that that belief isn’t discrimination, but rather “God’s idea.” Um, I think many queer folks who believe in a god or gods would very much disagree.

• Like Trump, he has no respect for undocumented immigrants, and lumps all Latinxs as “illegals,” making him no friend to queer Latinxs.

• According to The Advocate, he’s not just bad for our community. He’s bad for our society as a whole. Eliel Cruz of Faith in America told The Advocate that Pence’s “bigoted anti-LGBT law cost the state millions of dollars while allowing businesses to discriminate against LGBT citizens.” Again, how is there any excuse for this?

• Oh, and if you’re someone who could ever need an abortion, he’s definitely not a fan of letting you make that decision about your body for yourself.

At the end of the day, no matter where you stand, Democrat, Republican, something else entirely, you *have* to stay in the loop about this potential candidacy. Because this could send us spiraling back into the past, or into a future that is somehow even more unfortunate than what we’ve already survived.

Talk to people. Talk to your family, and your friends. Keep reading from multiple sources and hearing multiple perspectives. Pay attention not just to presidential elections, but to congressional elections, and your local elections. Don’t let horrible people keep their jobs just because it’s “cool” to be apathetic. Vote them out.

Keep burning. And keep fighting the good fight. We need you to.