LGBT Voters in Ohio Are Dismayed at the Election Results

As Ohio LGBT voters watched the returns, a mixture of disbelief and sadness could be heard in hushed conversations.

For many LGBT people, especially LGBT people of color, the worst possible outcome happened: America elected Donald Trump as the 45th President of the United States.

"They're voting for goldfish, because they're tired of chocolate chip cookies in a cookie competition," Isaac Troyo told The Advocate on election night. "As a Mexican-American, it's irritating to me ... so much favoritism towards Trump."

Networks called Ohio around ten p.m. and voters watching at LGBT bars like Cavan's Irish Pub on Columbus, Ohio's south side expressed feelings of shock and dismay.

"I fear that he would go straight into censorship," said Troyo. "And the very people he's promised to help are going to be victims of his greed, his anger and his xenophobia."

Ishmael Holman wasn't convinced by Hillary Clinton, but he says he got out to the polls for her anyway. He tells The Advocate that he's not going to go crazy because the election didn't going his way.

"There's so many times where people are elected and you have no choice but to deal with it, we just have to pay attention to these little elections happening while he's in office, said Holman. "Anything different is good to me."

Minority voters were heavily courted, and critiqued, throughout the election cycle. But exit polling shows that the majority of white voters elected Trump, despite minority votes going heavily in the other direction.

Early polling suggested that minority voters overwhelmingly supported Hillary Clinton, especially since the Donald Trump campaign espoused and incited racist, xenophobic and misogynist views.

But for voters that live at the intersection of the type of person Trump supporters seemingly want to get rid of or oppress, this election raised true concerns about the future of the country and their place within it. Now, the possibility of a Trump presidency, is a reality.

"I hope that Canada will start taking refugees," said Megan Bailey, a visitor from the Cleveland area told The Advocate. "They might have to build a wall themselves."

Bailey says she's worried about the future of Planned Parenthood, her former employer, and the women who need those resources. Pence said in a speech earlier in the campaign that a Trump Administration would defund the organization and limit abortion rights.

The Trump campaign and the Republican party has explicitly stated a desire to repeal marriage equality as stated in their platform, and to create a stricter policing policy and immigration policy.

Vice president-elect Mike Pence created a hostile environment for LGBT people in his home state of Indiana, which was one of the first announced for Trump on election night. In his victory speech, president-elect Trump called for everyone to come together as "one united people," stating "I pledge to every citizen of our land that I will be president for all Americans, and this is so important to me," said Trump in New York.

Once the race was called, few people remained at the the watch parties. And those who were, felt dejected. One woman was quietly sobbing at the bar, many like her at this point not even wanting to talk about what they just saw. A night many expected to celebrate, now they're left wondering what January will bring.