Midwestern superstar Chappell Roan is facing immense backlash from fans over her refusal to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris for the upcoming election. In an interview with The Guardian last week, she explained she “doesn’t feel pressured to endorse anyone” and that there are “problems on both sides.”
Harris supporters took to social media to scrutinize Roan for her unwillingness to take a stand in such an important election.
“Chappell Roan is an embarrassment to lesbians. You can’t borrow from drag aesthetics and then pretend the party that criminalizes our happiness is the same as the one who protects it,” one user tweeted on X.
Thousands swarmed to like and retweet posts with similar sentiments.
But they’re getting one thing wrong: Roan didn’t say both sides were the same. She said there were problems on both sides, which is a belief more than a quarter of Americans hold.
The Republican Party is objectively worse for vulnerable communities in the United States, including the queer community that Roan belongs to. What’s less obvious is that the Democratic Party masquerades as a beacon for progressive politics while participating in abhorrent policy proclivities. Roan clarified in a TikTok that she is begrudgingly voting for Harris, not Trump, and that everyone should think critically about who they vote for.
So, enough beating around the bush. Why doesn’t Roan endorse Harris if she’s voting for her?
One word: Palestine.
In June 2024, Roan refused to perform at the White House until there’s “freedom for all oppressed people in occupied territories” and has used her merch sales as a fundraiser for Palestinian aid. In that same TikTok, she explicitly calls out the Democratic Party for aiding and abetting the ongoing massacre of Palestinians.
Some continue to criticize Roan, positing that she’s prioritizing the lives of those abroad over the rights of the marginalized citizens in the U.S.
This rhetoric is incredulously dangerous, and its destructiveness cannot be overstated.
For months, liberals have grilled leftists for withholding enthusiastic support for Harris over “single-issue voting.” Roan’s position has been misconstrued, so allow me to be explicit in her place: ending the ethnic cleansing of a population is non-negotiable.
A party that triumphs progressiveness is incompatible with the state-sponsored killings of now 40,000 Palestinian people. For far too long, Democratic voters have been conditioned to settle for less than the standard, often compromising their morals to vote for the lesser of two evils. In this case, some liberals have decided that Palestinian death is a necessary trade-off in securing rights for those in the U.S.
But it doesn’t have to be that way. You don’t have to lay your life down on the Harris hill. You can dissent, scrutinize and reject morally reprehensible policy positions.
Roan doesn’t want Harris to lose. She wants you to leverage your vote and threaten Harris with the possibility of losing to force her into ending the U.S. weapon supply to Israel. This war ends with us. Your ballot holds way more weight than just stopping Trump. Your ballot can transform the Democratic Party into a party of all people, not just those who were lucky enough to be born in the U.S.
In a democracy, voters decide what matters most, not politicians. They work for us. Roan is using her platform to encourage people to think critically about who they’re voting for and how to hold them accountable because a ballot can’t wash the blood off a candidate’s hands.
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