Echoing rhetoric from the Afghanistan withdrawal, conservative figures once again blame diversity and trans service members
Right-wing pundits continue to promote a culture war narrative that advancing LGBTQ rights poses a threat to America’s international security. After the Taliban took over Afghanistan in August 2021, right-wing figures blamed “woke ideology” and pushed the false claim that the U.S. Embassy in Kabul flew a LGBTQ pride flag on its rooftop ahead of the Taliban’s takeover.
Conservative pundits are once again using the war on Ukraine as a political cudgel to attack LGBTQ people:
- On February 23, Fox News host Tucker Carlson denigrated “trans rights,” saying they’re one of the “values” White House press secretary Jen Psaki was referencing when she discussed the “costs” of “standing up for our values” regarding Russia’s attacks on Ukraine.
- Appearing on The Five, Fox News host Pete Hegseth claimed Americans were “running around talking about genders and reparations” and “as a result, [Putin] thinks this is his moment to make an aggressive move.”
- National Review senior writer Michael Brendan Dougherty published an op-ed on February 22 criticizing the U.S State Department for pulling personnel from the Ukrainian Embassy ahead of Russia’s invasion, asserting, “The State Department spends an inordinate amount of time promoting progressive values, such as flying pride flags in the few European countries that have not yet legally recognized same-sex marriage, or holding seminars on diversity.”
- Far-right conspiracy theorist Paul Joseph Watson posted a video to YouTube on February 24 discussing Russia’s invasion, with Watson mockingly saying, “It turns out that repealing Trump’s ban on [trans people] in the military didn’t deter Putin. Turns out that the Pentagon’s effort to help nonbinary people who identify as they/them serve openly in the military didn’t deter Putin.”