by Emily Newbold
After most College of Charleston students have finished classes and are headed back to their personal lives for the day, the club Q-Space meets for "PowerPoint Night."
Q-Space, College of Charleston's official LGBT alliance and safe space on campus, aims to be a welcoming community and voice for the LGBTQ+ community on campus.
At this October meeting, spooky Halloween music plays in the background as students file in. A couple regulars are discussing the new season of "Heartstopper," a Netflix series about two gay teens navigating school and young love, before "PowerPoint Night" gets started.
There is a playful argument over who will present first, which opens the space for both serious and fun discussion.
As usual, though, it's most importantly just a place for community.
The mood of these LGBTQ students turns more serious when contemplating their existence in a second Donald Trump presidency that has spent the past several months boasting anti-gay and anti-transgender rhetoric.
History of hostility
Only 3.5% of South Carolina’s 5 million-plus residents identify as a part of the LGBTQ+ community, ranking the state 41st in representation in the United States, according to the UCLA School of Law Williams Institute.
And this hostility toward LGBTQ+ people has been codified into several laws.
In 2006 the state constitution was amended so that only marriages between one man and one woman could be performed or recognized. This was eventually overturned as unconstitutional in 2014, but it’s evidence of an ongoing discrimination toward the LGBTQ+ community.
In 2024 alone there have been 32 anti-LGBTQ+ bills proposed in South Carolina. So far only one, House Bill 4624, has passed.
Of the state’s LGBTQ+ population, 11% are unemployed, 36% are facing food insecurity, and 23% do not have health insurance.
And South Carolina is one of just two states in the United States without a hate crime law.
But the disparities faced by and the animosity toward the community have not deterred their presence or desire to live in South Carolina.
According to the Williams Institute, 35% of LGBTQ+ Americans live in the South, and 30% of the LGBTQ+ population in South Carolina have started families here.
Although the state’s politicians continuously attack their identities and bodily autonomy, the LGBTQ+ community refuses to accept defeat and continues to fight for recognition and acceptance.
Changing tides in Charleston
Charleston, South Carolina, has seen rapid population growth over recent years.
The metro area, which consists of Berkeley, Charleston, and Dorchester Counties, is now close to 850,000, showing a 5.7% increase in population between 2020 and 2023. The same metro area had a population of just over half a million in 2000.
As the population has grown, so has acceptance of the LGBTQ+ community.
“The people who are moving here have diversified the city, especially those from the North who are typically a bit more liberal,” says Hercules Brown, vice president of Charleston Pride. “If things were how they were 20 years ago I don’t think I would feel safe to be queer in Charleston.”
Charleston has transformed into somewhat of a safe haven for LGBTQ+ people and their families to live in this state, but their existence in the area is not new.
The city’s tie to the community dates back to before Charleston was even a city; Spanish colonists noted LGBTQ+ Indigenous people living here as far back as the 1500s.
Charleston Police Department has also implemented the signage program, Safe Place, to encourage reporting of anti-LGBTQ+ harassment and crimes.
Charleston Pride held its 15th Pride Parade last June, an event and organization that would not be here without the push for visibility by the LGBTQ+ community.
“Charleston Pride is very important for the collective group of the LGBTQ+ community in the tri-county area,” said Brown. “Just because of the unique background and history of Charleston itself when it comes to marginalized people, it is very important that we show support and pride in our organization and just who we are in general.”
But that visibility and acceptance has not come without resistance – resistance that typically springs from political affiliation or religious association.
Identity politics impacts attitude in South Carolina
In the state of South Carolina, the Republican Party controls the governor’s office as well as both chambers of the state legislature. The 1st Congressional District, which represents the entire Charleston area, is also represented by the Republican Party after recent redistricting. Although it elected a Democrat to the House of Representatives from 2018-2020, then U.S. Rep. Joe Cunningham lost in 2020 to Republican Nancy Mace, who maintained her seat in 2024.
The City of Charleston had maintained its status as a blue bubble in a historically red state at the local level until recent elections when it voted for a Republican mayor in 2023 and a Republican sheriff in the recent election.
An emergence of anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric and proposed bills at the state level that target education, healthcare, marriage, and discrimination have also raised alarms for the community that is moving more conservative.
Gov. Henry McMaster signed into law in May House Bill 4624, referred to as the Help Not Harm Bill.
The bill bans those under 18 from receiving gender-affirming care, prohibiting healthcare providers who receive state funding from providing gender-affirming care to individuals of all ages, and forced outing of public school students who wish to use a different name or pronouns that do not match their assigned sex at birth.
South Carolina became the 25th state to enact a ban or restriction on providing gender-affirming healthcare for minors.
Politicians from numerous states have been targeting transgender people specifically in the name of protecting women and children.
“A lot of times they put these bills up about protecting children and that is meant to distract you from the real purpose, which is erasing our community,” said Chase Glenn, executive director of the Alliance for Full Acceptance. “They want to make South Carolina as inhospitable as possible for LGBTQ+ people.”
The intent of protecting children is trying to minimize their interactions with transgender people and to prevent access from beginning or continuing the transitioning process.
“I believe that people don’t understand and are afraid of what they don’t understand,” said Brown.
Brown believes people are too quick to confirm their own biases rather than educate themselves about gay and transgender rights.
“I think that progression has happened so quickly that people are afraid, and instead of taking the time to educate themselves, people just attack,” Brown added. “They see something that’s different and just assume it's bad, especially related to kids.”
The Holy City
Religious beliefs have been one of the biggest justifications by anti-gay groups for homophobic thinking and behavior.
South Carolina is situated directly in the Bible Belt and is 78% Christian. The city of Charleston is nicknamed the Holy City as it has over 400 churches of varying denominations. But among those 400 churches, sanctuaries of inclusion and acceptance have emerged.
The percentage of LGBTQ+ people who are religious is increasing nationwide -- with 47% of LGBTQ+ adults claiming to be religious. In the South, that number is 54%.
In 2012, a Colorado bakery refused to make a wedding cake for a gay couple. Owner Jack Phillips argued to the U.S. Supreme Court that his anti-gay religious beliefs dictated a First Amendment right of religious freedom to refuse their business, and the Court ruled in favor of the baker.
Although specific Bible verses are often isolated to claim that homosexuality would go against God’s law -- such as Leviticus 18:22, “You shall not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination" -- the College of Charleston campus minister noted that conversations about homosexuality and religion are a rather recent phenomenon.
“The word ‘homosexual’ showed up in the Bible for the very first time in 1946,” said A.J. Houseman, director of campus ministry at the College of Charleston. “Conversations around sexuality didn’t really start happening until the mid-20th century, and that has to do with what was happening in the political world. It started as a political issue and permeated into the church and most of that has to do with trying to get the church on the side of a particular political affiliation.”
Many LGBTQ+ people have a complicated relationship with religion, especially when religion is used as a vice to discriminate against their identity.
And while most anti-LGBTQ+ bills and policies do not include religious language, many politicians who are advocating and voting them into law consider themselves religious.
The future for LGBTQ under Trump?
Throughout countless disparities and endless adversities, Charleston is a promising place for the LGBTQ+ community…for now.
The results of the presidential election have the community on high alert.
“From a personal standpoint, my partner and I have talked about it – if Trump gets reelected, it sounds crazy, but we’re like, ‘how much money do we have in the bank?’ We’re thinking of an exit strategy,” said Glenn. “We’re thinking about how we can protect ourselves and our kids. We’re concerned that if Trump gets re-elected, what it means for our family.”
But it is not just Trump’s campaign that is raising concern for the community’s future.
Candidates eying spots for representatives, senators, and governors all across the country are running their campaigns on anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric.
Domenico Ruggerio, executive director of We Are Family, believes a Trump presidency will only add to the hate, but cautions that the community still must be vigilant even if Kamala Harris wins.
“We are certain that, if Trump is elected, he will only offer a megaphone for increased hate; will fuel the fires of prejudice, discrimination, homophobia, and transphobia," said Ruggerio, noting that no matter who is elected they "are committed to holding [them] accountable to the communities we serve and to work toward transformative justice for all people.”
When the news of Trump’s reelection broke, many LGBTQ+ people woke up with heavy hearts.
The news created an urgent sense of panic over the future of the right to marriage, accessibility to gender-affirming healthcare, identification, and the lack of safety and acceptance.
The Trevor Project, a suicide prevention organization for LGBTQ+ youth, reported a 700% spike in calls following Election Day.
Mace, who claimed to be an LGBTQ+ ally when she took office in 2021, has been heavily advocating against transgender women accessing women’s bathrooms in the U.S. Capitol in response to the election of U.S. Rep. Sarah McBride, the first trans member of Congress.
"I’m absolutely 100% gonna stand in the way of any man who wants to be in a women’s restroom, in our locker rooms, in our changing rooms," she told reporters. "I will be there fighting you every step of the way."
What the second Trump presidency will entail for the LGBTQ+ community is uncertain until he retakes office, but it is evident the community is concerned.
“Trump has given license to a whole type of hate and bigotry to come out of the shadows,” said Glenn. “His way of talking about things and the way he has given a platform to hate groups and individuals, who maybe, historically haven’t been able to have an elevated platform and opportunity to hate gives permission to a lot of people to go public with these hateful bigoted ideas and thoughts.”
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