It’s just a backlash effect. There was progress for gays in the 70s in America with sodomy laws being repealed, and then came the 80s with AIDS and a culture of Christian fundamentalism. Massachusetts legalized gay marriage in 2003 only to be followed by a major backlash in the 2004 elections where culturally conservative candidates including the President at the time created a moral panic over the issue. Then there was a period of getting Don’t Ask Don’t Tell repealed, hate crimes legislation and of course gay marriage.

Now that transgender issues are front and center, there is a backlash to that. Some of it is warranted in my opinion since extremists who don’t represent the majority of gay or trans individuals should be pushed back on, but no question opponents of LGBT tolerance are taking advantage of the situation to undo what has been accomplished. At the end of the day we are still in a much better spot than we were 20 years ago so I think it’s important to have perspective.