Project 2025, assuming it still needs to be explained at this point, is an infamous proposed manifesto for the ultra-conservative faction of the Republican Party and, many believe, Donald Trump’s second term.
And with many LGBTQ+ Americans waking up on 6 November to the bleak and shocking reality of a second Trump presidency, it feels like a particularly good time to unpick what the document could signify for queer peoples’ rights in the US over the next four years.
Unsurprisingly, while Project 2025 promises to “take down the ‘Deep State’ and return the government to the people”, it also threatens to shred the rights and advancements of the LGBTQ+ community in the US.
The handbook’s authors claim that one of the biggest problems facing the US today is the “toxic normalization of transgenderism with drag queens and pornography invading school libraries.”
Project 2025 goes on to say that “transgender ideology” is one form of “pornography” linked to the “sexualization of children”. In total, “gender” is mentioned 111 times, and “LGBT” or “LGBTQ” 18 times, in the handbook.
LGBTQ+ rights would all but disappear if Project 2025 came to fruition. (Getty)
Viewed as a sort of right-wing wish-list, Project 2025 pledges to strip away anti-discrimination policies, making it easier to target and discriminate against LGBTQ+ people.
Published by the hard-line right-wing Heritage Foundation, the document calls for the removal of terms such as “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” from federal rules and legislation, and the revoking of regulations prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity, transgender status and sex characteristics.
Project 2025 set out plans to restrict the application of the Supreme Court’s decision in Bostock vs. Clayton County, which extended workplace protections against sex discrimination to LGBTQ+ employees.
In addition, it plans to restrict access to healthcare for transgender people, something it refers to as a form of “child abuse”. Its authors also want to see trans healthcare no longer being covered by insurance schemes Medicare and Medicaid, and an end to anti-discrimination rules based on gender identity and sexual orientation.
In addition, there are plans to reverse policies allowing transgender people to serve in the military, a ban that was initially brought in under the Trump administration but reversed by president Joe Biden. If enacted, Project 2025 would expel transgender servicemen and women as well as those living with HIV.
Donald Trump has tried to distance himself from the hard-line right-wing document. (Getty)
The State Department’s LGBTQ+ equality initiatives in Africa would also be axed. In other words, there would be no effort to stop draconian anti-queer laws being passed in countries such as Uganda.
In terms of education, the conservative blueprint is even more staunchly anti-LGBTQ+. It calls for a ban on students using names or pronouns that don’t match the sex on their birth certificate, and no school employee would be “forced” to use a pupil’s chosen pronouns.
It document outlines ideas to remove LGBTQ+-inclusive curriculums and policies from schools, claiming that “critical race theory and gender ideology” are “poisoning and indoctrinating children with leftist ideologies”. Instead, families “comprised of a married mother, father and their children” would be prioritized.
Despite many of its authors being one-time Trump administration advisors, the former president claims to know “nothing about Project 2025” or who is behind it, saying: “I disagree with some of the things they’re saying and some of the things they’re saying are absolutely ridiculous and abysmal.”
And two of his campaign advisors insisted: “President Trump’s campaign has been very clear that Project 2025 had nothing to do with the campaign, did not speak for the campaign, and should not be associated with the campaign in any way.”
A spokesperson for Project 2025 has even told CNN that it “does not speak for any candidate or campaign.”
However, Democrats have continued to point to links between the 922-page document and Trump. As he’s now won the election, will Trump finally admit to having any involvement with Project 2025? Only time will tell.
(My great- Aunt and Uncle lived in St. Petersburg, and my sister and I went there to visit. I got to hold a lime, and a grapefruit, attached to trees in their backyard, which was a big deal to a little kid.) Good news for Florida!
By KATE PAYNE Updated 10:28 PM CDT, August 20, 2024
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — School board candidates in Florida backed by Gov. Ron DeSantis were defeated Tuesday in several counties, results that opponents of the Republican say are a rebuke to his conservative education agenda.
Incumbent school board members in one of Florida’s largest swing counties appear to have held off a challenge from candidates backed by DeSantis, according to preliminary results. Activists had hoped that three challengers endorsed by the local chapter of Moms for Liberty would win a conservative majority in Pinellas County, home to St. Petersburg on Florida’s Gulf Coast.
But unofficial results show current school board chair Laura Hine and incumbent member Eileen Long have held on to their seats, after arguing that a political shift on the board could create turmoil in the district and distract from the mission of student achievement.
In a third race for an open seat on the Pinellas board, candidates Stacy Geier and Katie Blaxberg appeared to be headed for a runoff, after no one in the three-way contest cleared 50% of the vote.
With 100% of precincts reporting, Hine, the board chair, carried 69% of the vote over DeSantis-backed challenger Danielle Marolf’s 30%, according to preliminary results. Incumbent member Long brought in 54% of the vote over the 45% netted by Erika Picard, who was also endorsed by the Republican governor.
“We have got to stay focused on that work at hand and not be subject to the social political winds. Education is vital. And it has to be stable,” Hine told The Associated Press ahead of Tuesday’s elections.
In the third race for the board, Stacy Geier garnered 37% of the vote compared to Katie Blaxberg’s 34%, with a third candidate Brad DeCorte netting 28%, according to the county’s preliminary results. Geier was endorsed by DeSantis and the local Chapter of Moms for Liberty, while Blaxberg has argued parental rights activists have gone too far, with some equating books with pornography and labeling teachers as “groomers”. She found herself on the opposing side of the local chapter of Moms for Liberty and was targeted by conservative activists online.
“The misinformation that has been spread by this group of people and the intent to … place mistrust in our teachers,” Blaxberg said, “people are tired of it.”
Much of the political debate in the races had hinged on “parental rights”, a movement which grew out of opposition to pandemic precautions in schools but now is animated by heated complaints over teachings about identity, race and history.
Long, one of the Pinellas incumbents, said she sees the results as an admonishment of the governor.
“People want sanity. People want common sense. And people believe we should educate everyone,” Long said. “The people have spoken.”
Incumbents in Hillsborough County hold off conservative challengers
Scottie's Playtime 