Trump ditches White House LGBT Pride Month celebrations
Donald Trump has ended Barack Obama’s eight-year tradition of LGBT Pride Month celebrations in the White House.
From 2009 until 2016, President Obama had issued annual Proclamations recognising the month of June as LGBT Pride Month and hosted LGBT festivities inside the White House.
Obama’s Proclamations recognised “the fight for dignity and equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people”, as well as marking the government’s role in “working to broaden opportunity, advance equality, and level the playing field for LGBT people and communities”.
However, the tradition of Pride celebrations in the White House appears to have been ended under Trump.
Today, the Trump White House released a string of Proclamations marking June as “National Homeownership Month”, “National Ocean Month”, “African-American Music Appreciation Month” and “Great Outdoors Month” – but no such Proclamation was released for LGBT Pride Month.
Likewise, no LGBT Pride Month events at the White House have been announced.
Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi knocked the Trump administration in her own Pride Month statement.
She said: “As we mark LGBT Pride Month, we honor the LGBT leaders who have striven to build a more just society for all, and recognize the struggles and sacrifices they have endured in the fight for equality.
“This month, we celebrate their triumphs and remember that our Founders’ creed – that all are created equal – is not inevitable; that we must work every day to forge a more just, inclusive and perfect union.
She added: “Tremendous progress has been achieved, but the journey is far from over. LGBT Americans face an assault on their rights from the White House and House Republicans, who are gutting HIV prevention and treatment initiatives, dismantling protections for transgender children in public schools and conspiring to render LGBT Americans invisible in the census.
“These hateful, discriminatory attacks dishonor our nation’s most sacred ideals of liberty and make passage of the Equality Act – which would bring the full force of the Civil Rights Act to secure equality for LGBT people – even more urgent. This bill is about respect and pride, not mere tolerance, and House Democrats will not relent until it has been made law.
“The slain San Francisco Supervisor and civil rights leader Harvey Milk once said, ‘Rights are won only by those who make their voices heard.’
“In that spirit, let us raise our voices – in city halls and state capitols; in Congress and the Supreme Court – to fight for the equal dignity that every American is entitled to under our Constitution. And let our voices never falter or fall silent, until we have built a safer, more just and more hopeful future for all.”
DNC Chair Tom Perez added: “Despite their promises, the Trump administration is hell-bent on rolling back progress, starting with Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ decision to end protections for transgender students. Democrats will fight those these efforts to erode the rights of LGBTQ people and continue to push for LGBTQ equality at home and abroad.
“Internationally, equality is also a long way away. According to the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association, people in 72 countries can still be prosecuted for who they love. That is unacceptable. President Trump must use the full influence of the United States to pressure our neighbors to recognize the rights of LGBTQ people.”
Despite his string of anti-LGBT actions while in office, Trump maintains a hardcore base of gay Republican supporters.
They mainly point to that time he waved an upside-down rainbow flag.
