Besides just ignorance and Fear of the Different? In my experience, there’s a tendency for small-c conservatives to have a high degree of emotional attachment to traditional gender roles (especially toxic masculinity). LGBTQ+ people don’t adhere to those roles, and show kids that it’s okay not to adhere to those roles. End result: conservatives blame LGBTQ+ people for eroding one of their beloved shibboleths, because the alternative is admitting that they’re wrong.

Fascists gonna fascist. Problem is, the cult members citizens of this cult province will continue to lick it up.