For the first time since 2020, I am finally cured of my TikTok addiction and according to CEO Shou Zi Chew, it’s all thanks to one man: President Trump. Divine intervention couldn’t keep me off the app but one publicity stunt in favor of Trump and suddenly I am checking social media way less often.
Publicity stunt aside, my roommate and I were talking the other day about our frustrations — not just with the Trump presidency itself, but with the conversation surrounding it on TikTok and IRL. We both agreed that most of the LGBTQ+ people we know have been so focused on the implications of the administration that they have overlooked the present-day issues facing other minority groups. For example, a problem that has been on both of our minds recently is immigration. The exact numbers are unclear on how many undocumented immigrants have been deported since Trump took office. However, publications such as Reuters claim that up to 11,000 immigrants have faced removal. Many communities in larger cities have already felt the effects of increasing ICE presence, and local advocates have responded by reminding immigrants to “know [their] rights”.
Despite the immediate threat facing immigrants in the United States, many of the conversations I’ve observed in my day-to-day life and online have primarily focused on hypothetical threats against LGBTQ+ people. I’ve often heard the phrase “losing my rights” tossed around by gay people. This is indicative of a broader problem of racism and white privilege in the queer community. George Johnson summarized this issue well in his piece for NBC News, writing that “although white queer people share in our queer oppression, they are still beneficiaries of white supremacy — and are not above wielding that power in our ‘safe spaces’.” Although “Gay TikTok” might seem like a safe space, in my experience, it is hardly welcoming to queer immigrants and POC. The seeming lack of inclusion in online discourse has led many of my friends and online peers to feel isolated from the community.
But how much of the discourse can be blamed on the queer community? Trump himself famously used anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric in his campaign platform. During the 2024 election cycle, a PBS interview addressed the Trump campaign’s focus on transgender people. The interviewer stated that “[t]he top issues, according to most polls right now, [are] the economy, abortion, immigration”. Then they proceeded to ask “why [they] think Trump and his allies are making this one of their main closing arguments?” LGBTQ+ activist and journalist, Erin Reed, responded that, “the purpose of a fear campaign is to distract you from issues that you normally care about by making you so afraid of a group of people, of somebody like me, for instance, that you’re willing to throw everything else away because you’re scared”.
With Trump’s use of anti-LGBTQ+ sentiments as a red herring, it is no surprise that many queer people are distracted from the issues at hand. This does not mean that the conversation should remain unchallenged. If you are a non-POC, this might mean using your white privilege to help shift the narrative. We should all uplift marginalized voices in the LGBTQ+ community, remembering that we are the most powerful when we are united.