Several prominent speakers on the first night of the Republican National Convention leaned into anti-LGBTQ rhetoric, highlighting the party’s 2024 platform, which calls for “removing men from women’s sports” and ending “left-wing gender insanity.”
Their speech on Monday specifically targeted transgender and gender non-conforming people.
“Let me be clear: there are only two genders,” said Sen. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican from Georgia.
Rep. John James (R-Mich.) criticized transgender women’s participation in girls’ sports, a popular topic among conservatives.
“Our daughters were sold hope and now they are being forced into biological male playgrounds and locker rooms,” James said.
Minutes earlier, Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisconsin, mentioned another issue specifically targeted by conservatives, which is included in Florida’s so-called “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which calls for the teaching of gender ideology and sexual orientation in schools.
“This fringe agenda includes pitting biological males against women and the sexualization and indoctrination of children,” he said as the audience booed.
Monday’s speech came against the backdrop of a series of anti-LGBTQ incidents, including comments against the Pride flag and the cutting down of a Pride Month banner.
Anti-LGBTQ laws have been on the rise in recent years: An NBC News analysis of ACLU data found that at least 75 anti-LGBTQ laws were enacted in 23 states last year, including laws targeting gender-affirming care and school sports.
Ahead of the convention, party members released a party platform saying the Republican Party will “end the left’s gender insanity.”
“We will bar boys from girls’ sports, ban taxpayer funding for sex reassignment surgery, block taxpayer-funded schools from promoting gender transition, and reverse Biden’s radical rewrite of Title IX education regulations, restoring protections for women and girls,” the document states.
The Biden campaign condemned North Carolina’s Republican gubernatorial candidate, Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, for his comments, noting that he has previously made comments about LGBTQ people, though he did not repeat those remarks in his speech on Monday.
“There’s no reason for any country in America to teach kids about transgender people or homosexuality or any of that filth,” Robinson said in 2021.
This article originally appeared on NBCNews.com.