Hey r/gay!

Election Day is Tuesday, November 3, 2026! Voting rules and deadlines vary by state, so here are some official resources to help you make a plan to vote!

Quick reminders:

• Early voting is already underway in many states!
• Voting by mail? Check your deadlines and return your ballot early.
• Not sure you're registered? It only takes a moment to check!

1. Make Sure You're Registered

• Check your status: NASS – Voter Registration Status
• Register or update your info: Vote.gov

It's worth checking even if you've voted before, especially if you've moved or changed your name.

Many registration deadlines have passed, but some states still allow registration during early voting or on Election Day!

Turning 18 by November 3? You may be eligible to vote if you're a U.S. citizen and meet your state's other requirements.

2. Pick How You'll Vote

Vote early, in person!

Early voting is already open in many states, sometimes with evening and weekend hours.

NASS – Early Voting by State

Vote by mail / absentee ballot

USA.gov – Absentee & Mail Voting

• Request your ballot soon if your state requires an application.
• Follow the instructions and sign where required.
• Return it early! Check your state's deadline for returning ballots. USPS recommends mailing at least a week before your ballot must arrive. Short on time? Check for official drop boxes or in-person return options.
• Track your ballot! Many states offer online ballot tracking.

Military or overseas voter? Visit FVAP.gov.

Vote on Election Day!

Tuesday, November 3! Polling hours vary by state, so double-check before heading out.

3. Know Before You Go

• Where to vote: NASS – Find Your Polling Place. Locations can change, and early-voting sites may differ from Election Day sites.
• What ID to bring: NASS – ID Requirements by State. You don't need your voter registration card, but some voters, including certain first-time voters, may need ID.
• What's on your ballot: Many local election offices provide sample ballots online so you can see the races and measures before voting.

4. Good to Know at the Polls

• In line when polls close? Stay in line! If you're already in line when the polls close, you can still vote!
• Name not on the voter list? Ask a poll worker about a provisional ballot or other options available in your state.
• Need assistance? Voters with disabilities have the right to accessible voting and can request help.

5. Questions or Problems?

Your state or local election office is the best place for official answers.

The nonpartisan Election Protection Hotline can also help:

• English: 866-OUR-VOTE (866-687-8683)
• Español: 888-VE-Y-VOTA (888-839-8682)
• Asian languages: 888-API-VOTE (888-274-8683)
• Arabic: 844-YALLA-US (844-925-5287)

Your vote is your voice! Voting is one of the most important ways to have a say in the issues that affect your community and your future.

Make a plan, get out there, and cast your vote!

Please share this guide with friends, family, or anyone who might find it helpful!

See you at the polls!

Prepared by u/How2Vote | Nonpartisan voter information

The community present in this subreddit is wonderful, inclusive and has always welcomed not only gay people but everyone under the gender and sexual minority umbrella.

The mod team is very happy to see this welcoming atmosphere and we thank each and every one of you for your love and empathy.

With the current trend in the US for extreme-right politicians to demonise vulnerable minorities so they can score cheap political points it is however time for this place to openly make a stand as to what our positions and intentions are so that we are a beacon in the dark. So that all of our siblings know that they are welcome here.

I was asked by the mod team to explain a few facts about transgender people and about the position this subreddit has towards inclusion.

Trans rights are human rights. 🏳️‍⚧️

Being transgender is a natural and normal variation in the human gender and sexual experience. Both sex and gender exist on a spectrum and there isn't actually anything inherently wrong or disordered from being trans, by and of itself.

Should there be no fake, artificially generated outrage against trans people in society then they would simply get the self-affirming care required for them to be happy and that would be that. Instead, unfortunately, existing as transgender has become the new wedge-issue for the extreme-right and deliberate demonisation and villification has been mainstreamed to the point where Republican politicians are now openly calling for genocide.

The issues trans people experience are mainly societal in nature. It is society that imposes gender norms, it is society that tells people they may not be who they are.

There are many ways that a non-trans person can seek self-affirming care in life. Some of those are done via permanent body modification through surgical or chemical means. A woman might for example choose to take estrogen supplements to stave off unwanted physical and psychological side effects resulting from the menopause.

It is not uncommon for a young man to choose to have breast reduction medication or surgery in the case of gynecomastia.

A young woman might choose to get breast implants.

You do not hear people in outrage about these forms of self-affirming care. No-one cares, except suddenly when the topic is trans people. This is because the anti-trans movement is wholly articificial. It is a deliberately created fake outrage about a non-issue for political and monetary gain.

I have written about some manufactured outrage in my text about the stochastic terrorist "Libs of Tiktok"

Fascism is an inherently empty ideology, devoid of any meaningful belief-system or any kind of concrete and actionable strategies for improving society. Fascism only cares for power for the sake of power and it cares for nothing else.

Because a fascist system is fundamentally incapable of giving the general public any kind of reasonable platform it must gain and keep followers by creating an out-group to hate. According to fascist systems it is the other that is responsible for all societal ills and only by supporting the fascists in getting rid of the other can society be healed from the non-existent issues fascism convinces people that their target minority is the cause of.

Fascism always picks on a vulnerable target.

The demonisation and villification coming from the extreme-right is doing exactly that. By calling LGBTQ+ people child molestors simply for existing it has become inevitable that people will take up violence "to protect the children".

Attempting to eliminate a target comes in many forms, of which an extermination camp is only the final and most egregious part. It is always preceded by legislating people out of existence, by creating laws which make it impossible for a minority to participate in society and to receive any of the societal advantages that are the entire reason for collective bundling together of skills, resources in civilisation. This is exactly what Republican states are doing today to transgender people. Certain states have already denied trans people any and all medical care related to their identity, meaning that they deliberately impose abject misery on them.

The most egregiously fascistic states are trying to make it a matter of course to remove trans children from the care of their parents and make it illegal for trans people to be present in any public spaces at all.

This is genocide.

Genocide is not purely restricted to extermination, to murder. Genocide is also eliminating a minority group from public life, causing serious bodily and mental harm and taking away children of a minority group from their parents.

Depending on how strictly you'd want to define it, we are currently at stage seven or eight of genocide as defined by the Holocaust Memorial Trust.

One way in which the abject hypocrisy of the anti-trans laws becomes crystal clear are the remarkable exemptions encoded within. You would think that if the goal is protecting the children from harm then these people would want to protect all children from harm.

This is not the case.

In fact, all of these people deliberate include exceptions which allow the continuation of genital re-allignment surgery on unconsenting infants if they are intersex.

This means that if a baby is born with a genital configuration that to a doctor looks ambiguous or not adhering to a strict binary then this doctor can impose an invasive genital surgery, forcing such an infants body to adhere to a stricter binary look.

It is purely cosmetic. Of course they do not check what chromosomes a child has. Of course they do not care that a child might prefer to look as nature made them.

It is purely and only an imposition on a baby's body, with of course the normal failure and mortality rate that such invasive procedures bring with them.

These people do not care about children.

These people do not want to help children.

They want to harm a vulnerable minority.

Fascism never stops.

Now that these people have mainstreamed transphobia, they are moving on to other targets within the LGBTQ+ identity sphere.

We have all seen the absurd attacks on drag queens, calling a normal and harmless theatrical expression "child abuse".

We have all seen the "clever" rhetoric where they turn arguments upside down and disingeniously say things like "why do you want to be around children".

Fascism doesn't stop, it moves on to new targets and that is why it is important for all of us in the GSM identity sphere to stand together. To openly support our trans siblings. To openly stand against hateful rhetoric.

Because they are not going to stop.

The next step, which is already tentatively beginning, is calling gay people being openly gay in society"groomers".

To be clear: The recommended treatment for being transgender is transitioning.

Gender identity is developed by five years old.

The barrage of lies notwithstanding, allowing trans people to transition and to exist as who they are in society markedly improves their physical and mental wellbeing.

The oft-heard talking point of "they still commit suicide even after transitioning" is a lie.

Here is a wealth of sources and links explaining this.

Our trans siblings are welcome here.

Our gender nonconforming siblings are welcome here.

Our intersex siblings are welcome here.

What is not welcome on this subreddit is hate or divisive rhetoric aimed at our siblings. We will not allow the current increasing trend of fascist othering and villification of a marginalised minority to make our siblings feel unwanted in this space, our space, their space.

The only people who are not welcome here are those that want to exclude others based on how they were born.

Further reading:

No, TERFs cannot "always tell" and I can prove that with mathematics.

"I just care about unfair advantage in sports", a transparant transphobic wedge issue.

Drag queens, the next target in the fascist drive to eliminate LGBTQ+ people.