One thought I had while reading your article: In all these red states pushing all these laws to marginalize queer people and people of color ... marginalized people exist in very significant minorities. In some big cities like Nashville, relatively progressive people are more common than not despite the generally harsh and dehumanizing behavior of state lawmakers.

On Monday, I published an article similar in theme to this one, and I cited a cis/straight Tennessee mom who is fed up with hatred she's encountered at library board meetings where loud activists are demanding the removal of books for adults because they are by or about LGBTQ people. (While not demanding the removal of Harlequin romances and other books for cis/straight people with explicitly sexual passages.)

It's good to remember, I think, that red states do not have uniformly red-think populaces. Lawmakers on hate sprees are doing what demagogues do, stirring up hatred in order to achieve personal power.

We need to keep reminding people, like you do here, that laws designed to restrict the liberty of Americans based on their minority status are gross violations of American liberty ideals.