Before the Trans Agenda the Myth of the Gay Agenda Promoted Hate and Fear
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Opinion, by Mira Lazine
For years, a beloved talking point among the far-right is the ‘gay agenda.’ It goes back decades, and has the implication that there is some greater conspiracy behind LGBTQ+ rights advocacy, forcibly turning innocent people and their families into an evil gay cult. There has never been any real evidence to support this, of course, and the concept of a ‘gay agenda’ has always been extremely nebulous at best in its exact claims. Nevertheless, its impact cannot be understated.
The ‘gay agenda’ is a precursor to the modern variation of the ‘trans agenda,’ and both serve the same purpose in promoting a right-wing populism, serving as a small but important rhetorical tool for convincing the masses that marginalized peoples are out to get them. A great example of this comes from some of the most prominent people to popularize these terms - Alan Sears and Craig Osten.
While the term gay agenda comes from Christian home videos published in the 90’s, its origin in the broader right-wing discourse scene comes from the book, The Homosexual Agenda: Exposing the Principal Threat to Religious Freedom Today. The book’s thesis was that a ‘homosexual agenda’ was taking over much of America, leading many Americans to accept what the authors, Sears and Olsten, claimed was an immoral practice.
The homophobic elements of the book are obvious, but what isn’t immediately apparent is that this book’s deep connections to the most powerful conservative Christian legal organization in the country, the Alliance Defending Freedom.
Sears used to be the president of the ADF, and his influence permeated into cases the group advocates for. As the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) details, they’ve advocated for the criminalization of same sex marriage and for the right to discriminate against gay people on religious grounds.
The concept of the gay agenda permeated into the broader homophobic advocacy sphere. ADF has used this term in opposing gay rights in Belize, and the organization has openly described itself as opposing the ‘homosexual agenda.’
Other organizations have widely used this term as well. ProPublica details how the Family Research Council has weaponized this concept in their work taking down laws criminalizing hate crimes. The term is widely used among conservatives – the Daily Caller used it in a headline just within the last week, the Evangelical Christian magazine Decision Magazine published an article focusing on the concept, and multiple schools have faced parental and faculty complaints about specific books harkening to a ‘gay agenda’ that seeks to indoctrinate kids.
screenshot of a Daily Caller headline
These terms slowly became more normalized among mainstream culture, with it becoming a more acceptable view among the right-wing to refer to a vague agenda among gay people. The agenda is believed to be inducting kids into a cult that forces them to adopt a “lifestyle” that perverts traditional, Christian values.
In other words, the exact thing we hear used against trans people today.
The gay agenda is really just a precursor to the modern concept of a “trans” or a more general “LGBTQ+” agenda. Sometimes this uses the same exact terminology as the ‘gay agenda’ claims, but even when it does not it ties back to a vague conspiracy among the left-wing to harm people’s children and change the foundation of society.
We can see how normalized this type of terminology is through individuals like Chaya Raichik, also known as Libs of TikTok. She talked about an “agenda that’s being pushed” in regards to kids identifying as trans, referring to “the Left’s agenda to groom your children.”
The conservative think-tank The Heritage Foundation has been releasing articles talking about how a trans agenda is trying to take over America, Rep. Majorie Taylor Green (R-GA), who is notorious for promoting QAnon conspiracy theories alleging a pedophile cabal is running America, said that queer people are groomers aligned with the “pro-pedophile” Democratic Party.
Anti-trans Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) famously said that if you oppose specific bills of his that ban discussion of LGBTQ+ topics around children, you’re a “groomer,” a particularly dangerous formulation during a time where QAnon conspiracies were running wild.
Elon Musk has also boosted these conspiracies, and has used his platform as the CEO of Twitter to normalize discussions of them on the website.
The link between the concept of a gay or trans agenda and conspiracies about pedophiles running America is prominent, as the SPLC writes, with anti-LGBTQ sentiment as a core element of these conspiracies. While the grooming conspiracy and QAnon are not intrinsically the same, they do share strong links - enough that they elevate each other and can become indistinguishable in how the rhetoric plays out.
screenshot from SPLC
These conspiracies thus tie into other forms of bigotry. The SPLC continues in saying that anti-Semitism is a core element of QAnon, tying into concepts of all-powerful ‘blood cabals’ that seek to indoctrinate children to harm them in some way, often alleging that they’ll get sexually abused.
It should be emphasized that this rhetoric and these claims never have any actual evidence backing them. The supposed proof given is always circumstantial, and exists solely as propaganda elements to radicalize more people into an ideology that’s designed to hate some of the most marginalized in our society.
It’s particularly worrisome when these types of conspiracies are linked to Jewish individuals, as this is typically a sign of a much more dangerous ideology, tied to the Nazism of days past. As the Anti-Defamation League points out in their analysis of extremist killings across the US, far-right individuals motivated by white supremacy and anti-Semitism pose one of the biggest threats to marginalized people.
The Texas Tribune writes about a prime example of this in the Allen mall shooter. His manifesto had heavy links to anti-Semitism, far-right conspiracies, and explicit Neo-Nazi views. He was found to be motivated by individuals like Nick Fuentes, Andrew Anglin, and websites like VDare and the Unz Review, which are popular among white nationalists.
The links to racism are also prominent and just as worrisome. The Allen shooter viewed websites that believe in a supposed genetic inferiority to Black individuals, often citing concepts like IQ in their defense. Other shooters promote anti-Arab and anti-immigrant rhetoric, and many white nationalists in Europe spread rhetoric that the native populace is being ‘replaced’ by immigrants from other countries.
The elements of racism, xenophobia, and anti-Semitism are not tangential to the anti-LGBTQ parts of this ideology, but are intrinsic. They all support each other in spreading a cohesive, if somewhat vague, far-right ideology that leads to these individuals getting elected. It always turns back to claims of a conspiracy.
Far right leaders in Europe such as Marine Le Pen or the Alternative for Germany party built their platforms on targeting marginalized individuals, often paying lip service to conspiracies that malevolent forces are out to harm their countries. These individuals and groups are expected to roll back progress made on LGBTQ+ rights, restricting gender affirming care for trans people and normalizing discrimination.
screenshot from Washington Blade
And much of what got them elected are worries among the public that a nebulous left-wing cabal is trying to attack their kids, their families, and their livelihood, the very same claims that are spread by the ADF, FRC, and American politicians.
But the prominence of these ideologies isn’t inevitable. A simple remedy on an individual scale is education, reaching out to people who you might know, informing them that the concept of a gay or trans agenda, of conspiratorial groups who run everything to promote left-wing ideology, aren’t based in reality.
Systemically, we need change that addresses the root cause of these concepts, policymakers unafraid to condemn them and working to combat economic disenfranchisement and worries of civil collapse.
These ideas spread best when they’re in echo chambers, where people go entirely unchallenged. It’s difficult to convince people when they’re entrenched, but making the effort to reach out to those you know could help to make a change in these concepts.
Regardless of who you are, remember that you are not immune from falling prey to these ideas. No one is immune to propaganda, a critical eye can protect you from it.
Mira Lazine is a freelance journalist covering transgender issues, politics, and science. She can be found on Twitter, Mastodon, and BlueSky, @MiraLazine