Leslie Roberts: LGBTQ rights used to be about equality. Now it's about ideological coercion
Every June, rainbow flags fill our streets, storefronts and social media feeds as the world marks Pride Month. As a gay man who remembers a very different time, I feel a genuine sense of pride and gratitude for how far we've come. But I also find myself increasingly uneasy, not about being gay, but about what the LGBTQ movement has become.
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You won't find me dancing shirtless on a float or wrapped in a feather boa. I'm more likely to be found in the suburbs, where many of us now live, raising children, caring for aging parents and commuting to work. That, too, is what being gay looks like today. And it's a vision of normalcy we fought hard to achieve. Equality, after all, meant being treated like everyone else.
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But somewhere along the way, the movement changed. What was once a focused, hard-won campaign for equal rights and recognition has been absorbed into a broader cultural project — one that many of us no longer recognize, and increasingly struggle to defend.
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This is especially true when it comes to the current direction of trans activism, which has not only dominated LGBTQ discourse in recent years, but has also sparked sharp political and cultural backlash. Let's be honest: many in the gay, lesbian and bisexual communities are quietly asking how and why the T became the centrepiece of our shared movement.
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The transgender cause, particularly as it relates to children and adolescents, raises medical, ethical and social questions that are far more complex than the fight for same-sex marriage or workplace protections ever was. Puberty blockers, irreversible surgeries, pronoun mandates and policies around sports and shared spaces — these are issues that affect not just trans individuals but families, schools and society at large.
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And yet, to even raise a question about any of this is to risk being branded a bigot. That's not progress. That's ideological coercion.
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For years, the LGBTQ community stood united because we had to. We faced the same threats: violence, discrimination, marginalization. But that solidarity was based on common ground: sexual orientation. Now, gender identity, a fundamentally different concept, is redefining the movement's priorities, its language and its public image.
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Let's not forget: many moderates in the gay community stepped back from activism once the major battles were won. When same-sex couples could marry and adopt, when we could live and work without fear of legal consequences, many of us moved on. We integrated into the mainstream. We cut our lawns, raised kids, joined school committees. And in doing so, we believed, perhaps naively, that the struggle was over.
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Again, gold is declining despite the military conflict between Israel and Iran (and even regardless of the involvement of the U.S. bombers) as well as the move lower in the USD Index. This is a clear sign that gold is ready to fall further – probably significantly so. No. I mean, anything could happen on the markets, but this is very unlikely in my view. The USD Index is sitting on combination of very powerful support levels – the 38.2% Fibonacci retracement based on the 2008 – 2022 rally as well as the 61.8% Fib. retracements based on the 2018 – 2022 and 2020 – 2022 rallies. Yes, issues like twin deficits remain unresolved, but let's keep in mind that the USD Index is a weighted average of currency exchange rates – and fundamental situations in the Eurozone and Japan are not really better than they are in the U.S. – and the same goes for other countries, but EUR and JPY have the highest weight in the USD Index. Besides, broad bottoms in the USD Index are quite common – and the final bottoms quite often form close to the middle of the year, which is exactly where we are right now. As you can see, in the recent years, there were two cases when the broad bottom formed between 50 and 60 trading days. In other cases, those bottoms took longer. Consequently, with this bottom being formed over 47 trading days (as of today) is completely normal. In fact, if the USD Index rallies from here, it will be the shortest bottoming period in a long time. This creates the opposite question – has enough time passed for the USD Index to form the final bottom? In my view, the answer is yes, as 47 is not far from 50, and Trump's decision framework now calls for some successes and stability. This should be positive for the U.S. dollar (while being negative for gold). Did gold rally based on the increased (real and perceived) chaos in the previous weeks and months? Of course. But does it mean that it will rally more? Not necessarily. Gold has not only managed NOT to rally despite further increases in chaos (Middle East), but even declining in this environment. This, plus the fact that Trump's Art of the USD now calls for results – and likely increased levels of stability – higher values of USD and lower values of gold are to be expected. Thank you for reading my today's analysis – I appreciate that you took the time to dig deeper and that you read the entire piece. If you'd like to get more (and extra details not available to 99% investors), I invite you to stay updated with our free analyses - sign up for our free gold newsletter now. Thank you. Przemyslaw K. Radomski, CFA Founder, Editor-in-chief
