I feel like I’m starting to understand Trump supporters more, based on conversations I’ve been hearing and some I’ve been part of.

While I’ve often felt that Democrats haven’t done enough, one gentleman I spoke with believed the opposite—that they were dangerously close to ending the world as he knows it. His example? A library on post hosting a read-aloud for kids with a drag queen, which he saw as indoctrination.

To him, a man dressing in women’s clothes is a sexual fetish, something that shouldn’t be normalized. His fear is that if children are exposed to this, they might be influenced by it—and because he sees it as inherently wrong, it terrifies him.

So when Trump says he’ll “make America great again,” this person envisions an America where trans and queer individuals are pushed back into the shadows, forced to hide instead of living loudly and proudly. He imagines a world where being heterosexual is the only acceptable way to exist.

When people like him say they don’t like being “forced” to accept trans people as normal, what they’re not saying out loud is that they believe trans people should hide and never be seen. What they’re really saying is, my way of being is the only right way, and every other way should be erased from society.

It’s ironic, though, because while they’re fine imposing their views on others, they reject the idea of others imposing different views on them. And, of course, because Christianity often promotes the belief that its way is the only way, people with this mindset carry an air of superiority—after all, they believe God is on their side. They see the growing acceptance of marginalized communities as a test of faith, proof that they are God’s warriors battling sin in a broken world.

Yet, even in their devotion, they still refer to God as a man—further proof of the deeply ingrained misogyny woven into their beliefs.