Republicans find LGBTQ+ rights “unthinkable” yet can easily believe in aliens

There are two things I never thought I’d see in my lifetime: nudes of the president’s son waved in front of Congress…and a congressional hearing on aliens. 

David Grusch, a United States Air Force veteran turned extraterrestrial whistleblower, didn’t come with receipts during his congressional testimony, but that didn’t stop GOP representatives from eating his stories up.

Related:

O’Shae Sibley’s murder was caused by America’s debilitating ignorance of LGBTQ+ people

This is why we need to fight for inclusive education from early childhood onward.

Personally, I need proof to believe the reality of aliens, but I was surprised to see so many GOP members didn’t. 

Dive deeper every day

Join our newsletter for thought-provoking commentary that goes beyond the surface of LGBTQ+ issues

Daily

Weekly

Good News

Long hearing short: On July 26th, Grusch testified under oath that “the U.S. government is operating with secrecy – above Congressional oversight – over Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP).” He was joined by Ryan Graves, executive director of Americans for Safe Aerospace, and David Fravor, retired Navy Commander, in echoing the existence of nonhuman life. 

We’re clearly in the post-pandemic, world-is-burning era. Because even though the House Oversight Committee’s national security subcommittee took them seriously and the media went wild with headlines, the American people…yawned and clicked on the next article. 

Perhaps the men approached it the wrong way. If they wanted to gain the public’s attention, they should’ve testified wearing Target’s Pride merchandise while drinking from Bud Light cans with Dylan Mulvaney’s face on them. Half the country would’ve been up in arms if Grusch had described reports of a multicolored ray of light beaming from a craft. 

Republican leaders claim they condemn queerness because they don’t believe LGBTQ+ people have the right to exist. After all, it’s not sanctioned by the Bible. But in the absence of evidence aside from the words of three straight cis men, they embraced the conversation of aliens with complete legitimacy. No ridicule. No hesitation. 

To be clear, I’m not advocating society should feel any way about aliens. It’s just there are so many flabbergasting issues here on Earth that should take precedence.

For a long time, queer people identified with the feeling of being alien in a heteronormative world. But we were wrong. It turns out our identities are far more controversial than the existence of extraterrestrials. 

Graves told the hearing: “If everyone could see the sensor and video data I witnessed, our national conversation would change…I urge us to put aside stigma and address the security and safety issue this topic represents.”

The former Navy pilot is right. Putting stigma aside would help solve most of the country’s problems. But that argument cannot merely be used when it’s convenient. Everyone could see the humanity of LGBTQ+ people…if they dare to look. 

Take Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN), who said the government’s lack of transparency surrounding “unidentified aerial phenomena” amounts to a “coverup.”

It’s a funny dynamic that he can believe the government is hiding aliens but be mostly concerned with men wearing wigs and dresses. He’s been on a mission to ban drag performers in Tennessee as if they were the danger from outer space.

Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-WI) also accused the Biden administration of not being transparent about UFOs, citing the Chinese spy balloon incident in February. This is the same Congressman that denounced the Supreme Court’s decision to legalize same-sex marriage nationwide, describing it as “unthinkable 20 years ago.”

Grothman is no spring chicken, so he must have long known about the phenomenon of people who like the same gender. So for him, it’s not that it was unthinkable that they would want to marry, but rather, unacceptable. And unless UFOs were visiting him as a child, shouldn’t he find aliens unthinkable, too? 

According to Graves, the stigma associated with reporting UAP sightings is “so bad” it has discouraged commercial aviators from reporting encounters with them.

Does he mean something similar to the stigma associated with supporting LGBTQ+ rights, discouraging any member of the GOP from supporting LGBTQ+ Americans for fear of being exiled from their party?

Graves called on House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to create a select committee to address UAPs, but wouldn’t that position require the competence to understand “alternative lifestyles” to your own are possible?  

Validating life on another planet doesn’t seem to offend their God or proverbial children as the Pride flag does. Where are Ron Desantis’ cries to ban E.T. from being shown in schools? 

The dialogue of extraterrestrial life is no longer trending on the news. There was no riot about a potential invasion or a Republican crusade against alien believers. And yet, across the country, queer people are being bullied, ostracized, and murdered as if their existence came without warning or explanation.

The GOP has shown to be more open-minded than we once gave them credit for, which is what’s the most angering. They can contemplate an outer galaxy species based on conjecture and movies but can’t validate the queer folks breathing and pleading in front of them. 

Rainbows are formed when light from the sun is scattered by water droplets. They happen everywhere. They simultaneously embody coincidence, a miracle, and science.  You can’t stop or prevent them; closing your eyes doesn’t make them cease to exist.

We can’t control where our light shines.