LGBTQ Rights in an Age of Democratic Uncertainty: How to Counter the Politics of Eradication 

Abstract

In this age of democratic uncertainty, the LGBTQ community is facing its greatest challenge in decades – a Politics of Eradication premised on the conviction that LGBTQ people do not, or should not, exist. In 2021, the populist MAGA movement began inundating state legislatures with bills designed to censor LGBTQ lives, remove LGBTQ people from public life and, in the case of transgender people, literally define them out of existence. MAGA activists claimed these laws were necessary to protect women, children, and even national security. On January 20, 2025, this MAGA anti-LGBTQ agenda became the official policy of the United States.

There is nothing new about the Politics of Eradication. It is an old strategy long applied to unpopular groups that promises an appealing, and dangerous, finality. Today, a virulent anti-LGBTQ version of this strategy has galvanized the MAGA movement and motivated swing voters. It is both a symptom of democratic decline and a contributing factor. It represents an existential threat to LGBTQ people, but also serves as a harbinger of what might lie ahead because the Politics of Eradication will not end with LGBTQ people.

This article examines the Politics of Eradication as applied to LGBTQ people in the context of an authoritarian slide. The first section outlines the markers of democratic decline, including the rise of the MAGA movement and the consolidation of power at the executive level. The second section details the evolution of the MAGA movement’s anti-LGBTQ narrative and its embrace by the Trump administration. The final section provides a clear-eyed threat assessment and identifies the institutional levers and mechanism of power that stand between LGBTQ people and certain erasure.

Keywords: LGBT rights, gender identity, democracy, authoritarianism, Trumpism, administrative law, constitutional law, Make American Great Again, gender ideology, DEI, fascism, Trump, democratic decline, democratic slide, LGBTQ rights, transgender