Human psychology looks for out groups to demonize. We humans get psychological benefits from doing this. It helps us cope, it helps us bond with our in groups. As pathetic as that may be.

Right now, people are more scared for the future than they have been in generations. We are dealing with utterly unprecedented threats that have the capacity to actually end our current society. Fascism promises we can go back to a Better Time. It encourages people to blame all the fear and anger they feel on scapegoats. Charismatic personalities abuse and amplify these human tendencies for power. The seeds are there in all of us, waiting for the right conditions for hate to grow. It’s like the man says, you’re a whole different person when you’re scared.

I think that the progress of the last 40 years has been made by showing people that homosexuals are not a separate group that can meaningfully be targeted but rather represents a cross section of every single community on Earth. It’s harder and harder to think of them as other. But unfortunately, that fight has to be fought over and over for every other marginalized group under our umbrella.