Donald Trump called himself "the father of IVF" and his running mate, JD Vance, claimed they would attract "normal gay guy" voters – but queer Americans are not convinced, stepping up plans for marriage and kids while they still can, NBC News reported.
Anxieties around the right to marry are rooted in the way a heavily conservative Supreme Court – with three Trump appointees – stripped away women's right to end pregnancy on the federal level, sending the issue to the states and ending a half century of recognition for a Constitutional right to choose.
Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito have been vocal about wanting to revisit the Court's own 2015 ruling that ushered in national marriage equality, ending a chaotic patchwork of rights that varied, sometimes dramatically, from state to state.
One couple who have accelerated their timetable to the altar are Ben Nelson and Adam Weinberger, NBC News relayed, noting that the men had planned for an October wedding in 2025 – until the results of last month's election, that is. Now they're planning a December elopement.
"We kind of decided that we would take a step back and do what we think is necessary for our lives, not necessarily what our first choice was," Weinberger told NBC News.
"This is not what equality looks like," Nelson added.
Another gay couple – Michael Kaye and his partner, who was not named in the story – are similarly contemplating an elopement before January 20, Inauguration Day, rather than sticking with their original plan for a June 2025 wedding.
"It just feels like we took a step backwards and that fear is resurfacing," Kaye explained. "I just feel like there is this fear again around the queer experience."
Another source of anxiety for queer families in advance of the incoming president's inauguration next month is whether IVF will remain legal in general, and if it will be within reach of queer couples. IVF – in vitro fertilization, which enables families who would otherwise not be able to have children to become parents – is a major avenue to parenthood for same-sex couples and other families that do not fit into the binary heterosexual mold.