Trump’s gay press aide slammed for claiming Mike Pence isn’t ‘anti-gay’
US Vice President Mike Pence at a Trump for President rally in Florida. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
US president Donald Trump’s gay deputy press secretary says Mike Pence isn’t “anti-gay” because he’s having lunch with Ireland’s Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, and his partner, Matthew Barrett.
Varadkar is openly gay, having come out when he was Irish health minister in 2015.
Judd Deere, Trump’s special assistant and deputy press secretary, tweeted on 3 September: “For all of you who still think our VP is anti-gay, I point you to his and the Second Lady’s schedule tomorrow where they will join Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and his partner Dr. Matthew Barrett for lunch in Ireland.”
Deere, a gay Republican, often represents Trump on LGBT+ issues. He said in a 1 July interview with BuzzFeed that the president “doesn’t treat me any differently because I’m gay”.
But he added that the president may not actually know how he identifies.
Responding to Deere’s tweet, one Twitter user said: “This may be the dumbest tweet out of an already incredibly pathetic comms office.”
If meeting with someone proves you share their ideals, what are we to make of Trump’s repeated meetings with Putin and Kim Jong-un?
— Max Kennerly (@MaxKennerly) September 3, 2019
“Yeah, where would anyone get the idea that Mike Pence is anti-gay? Other than his lifelong career of supporting discrimination against LGBT folks?” said another.
