For the past 18 to 24 months, we have heard threatening rhetoric against Muslims, Latinos, gays and lesbians. We have been lead to believe that if we sent Donald Trump to the White House, we would see the end of legal abortions, the end of accepting refugees, the end of marriage equality.
Once Donald Trump actually shocked the world by actually being elected, the fears of those who were targeted by his threats seemed to be realized.
The question on every mind was “Who will Trump choose to join him in the White House?” Who would be on his transition team? His cabinet? How dangerous would those appointees be to our fellow Americans?
Of course, some on the right told us all to “take a breath,” to “stop overreacting,” to “give him a chance.”
Even President Obama encouraged us to treat the new President with an “open mind.”
Well.
We were right to be afraid. We were right to fear that the worst of the far right would be appointed to join Mr. Trump in the White House.
We are now learning that the President-elect has appointed Ken Blackwell to the post of advisor for domestic policy.
“Homosexuality is a lifestyle, it’s a choice, and that lifestyle can be changed.” – Trump transition team's head of domestic policy pic.twitter.com/SfMcV8qtIb
— Scott Bixby (@scottbix) November 10, 2016
In case you have not heard of Mr. Blackwell, let me fill you in.
Blackwell is the former Mayor of Cincinnati. He ran for governor back in 2006, but was soundly defeated by his opponent.
More importantly, Blackwell is a Senior Fellow at the Family Research Council. This organization pretends to be supportive of families, but in reality, it is in support of straight, Christian families with a profoundly right-wing belief system.
The Southern Poverty Law Center has labelled the group a hate group because it is so severely anti-LGBTQ.
The Family Research Council’s website has plenty to say about marriage equality (“Voters Don’t Want To Alter The Altar”, hardee har har), abortion, end-of-life issues and stem cell research.
But it is their views on sexuality that make them so abhorrent. They say, and Mr.Blackwell agrees, that homosexuality and bisexuality are choices. They believe that “choosing” to be homosexual is a sin.
Asked about his views on homoseuality during his failed run for governor, Blackwell e said:
“I believe it is a transgression against God’s law….God’s will.”
This is the man who President-Elect Donald Trump just chose to be head of the domestic policy branch of his transition team.
Yes, fellow progressives; we were absolutely right to be afraid after this election.
Check out this wonderful video of Blackwell trashing Trump during the primaries.
Featured image by Gage Skidmore via Flickr. Available through CC BY-SA 2.0 license.
