As if we needed more evidence that progressive, identity politics activism is a grift, several left-wing groups that fundraise off of gay and transgender rights are greedily trying to turn the coronavirus into a victimhood issue.
As reported by the Washington Blade, “More than 100 LGBTQ or LGBTQ supportive organizations on March 11 released a joint open letter to health care providers and media outlets urging them to be aware that LGBTQ people may be at greater risk for [coronavirus] than the general public.”
“As the spread of the novel coronavirus a.k.a. COVID-19 increases, many LGBTQ+ people are understandably concerned about how this virus may affect us and our communities,” says the letter. “The undersigned want to remind all parties handling COVID-19 surveillance, response, treatment, and media coverage that LGBTQ+ communities are among those who are particularly vulnerable to the negative health effects of this virus.”
Groups that signed the letter include the Human Rights Campaign, Lambda Legal, GLAAD, and more.
This is, frankly, ridiculous. The coronavirus is a virus. It does not care if you are gay. Efforts to somehow make a global pandemic evidence of anti-gay and anti-transgender oppression is a case of shameless self-victimization at its worst.
The letter’s reasoning as to why the coronavirus is somehow an issue of gay and transgender oppression is threefold.
First, they claim that gay and transgender people are more likely to be smokers and that since the coronavirus, a respiratory illness, is more deadly to people who smoke, it’s therefore specifically a threat to the “LGBTQ+” community. This is a ridiculous stretch. The coronavirus is a threat to smokers, some of whom happen to be gay or transgender. It has nothing to do with their sexuality or gender identity.
Second, these activist groups claim that gay and transgender people are more likely to have compromised immune systems due to diseases such as AIDS, thus putting them at greater risk for the coronavirus. This, on the surface, sounds like a reasonable assertion, but it’s actually unsupported by the facts. Dr. Sarah Henn told the Washington Blade that, for AIDS that is treated and managed, the increase in risk or susceptibility to the coronavirus would be “very slight.”
The third reason the groups cite is that gay and transgender people supposedly face discrimination in healthcare. They provide no evidence of any gay or transgender person being turned away from coronavirus testing or treatment due to his or her sexual orientation, nor is there any to provide. It’s a long way from some doctors not wanting to be forced to provide sex-change surgeries and a refusal to treat the coronavirus.
This letter is just another cynical attempt by left-wing gay and transgender activist organizations to fuel the fake victimhood narrative they need to keep their donor base engaged. Shame on them for extending their identity politics addiction to a global crisis.
