I don’t think we should abandon a state because the people in power of that state are making anti LGBT laws and policies.

I am fully aware that there are places and laws that make it unsafe for people to even exist and that danger is real. I know that there are places in the world that I would not want to live. I know that I have the privilege of being a gay white man and can blend in when I feel unsafe. I know some people don’t have that.

However, I feel that by abandoning a state we are giving people in power exactly what they want and making the state more unsafe and more extreme. Let’s take Florida for example. If no LGBT people visit here, and all of the LGBT people leave here, then the people in power have gotten exactly what they wanted. The state will drift further and further to the extreme right, and it will become more and more dangerous for LGBT people to exist there. There will be less and less chance of a progressive democratic candidate winning an election and changing laws to help LGBT people.

One may think ‘fine, let them rot in their Republican hell hole’, but I disagree. Even if everyone gets out of the state and no one visits, there will always be LGBT children growing up in that state. It will be harder for these children without these communities around them. There are gay communities that exist in these states and spaces where it is safe to be gay (usually in major cities) that do matter. It does matter that your city or town has a Pride parade. It shows that LGBT people exist and are visible.

Choosing to boycott travel to these states is economically hurting, but I believe that it is mostly affecting the LGBT people that own these businesses. Governor Desantis isn’t feeling it in his pocket book if gay hotels in Florida lose half of their business, the people that own the hotels are. The people that run the nightclubs and gay bars are affected. The billionaires running the government do not care and their lives will not change in any meaningful way if all of the LGBT businesses fail.

I get not wanting to travel somewhere where you are not safe, but there are thriving gay communities in these states and I think that abandoning them is not the answer. We should be fighting to change these states to be safer, as much of an uphill battle as it may be. If we all just disappear we are giving Republicans exactly what they want.