Former gay Republican leader joins the most anti-LGBT+ White House in modern history
Donald Trump holds an LGBT+ Pride flag given to him by supporter. (Getty/ Chip Somodevilla)
The former head of the Log Cabin Republicans, a Republican LGBT+ organisation, has taken on a new role working in the White House despite the Trump administration’s rollback of LGBT+ rights.
Gregory T Angelo has started working for the Trump administration as spokesman for the White House Office of Drug Control Policy, according to the Washington Blade.
Before joining the White House, Angelo was executive director of the Log Cabin Republicans, a group dedicated to representing LGBT+ conservatives in the United States.
Under Angelo’s leadership, the group refused to endorse Trump in 2016 – but that didn’t stop him from taking a job working for the president.
Gregory T Angelo has previously been critical of Donald Trump.
Following Trump’s election, Angelo reportedly engaged with Trump to express his views on LGBT+ issues.
But Trump appears to not have taken his suggestions on board. Since then, the Trump administration has committed itself to rolling back LGBT+ rights, with trans people coming under particular scrutiny.
Just last week, the Trump administration removed healthcare protections for trans people – and that’s only the tip of the iceberg.
These were issues that Angelo was once concerned about. In early 2017, he sent a letter to Trump urging him to “keep his promise” and to be a “real friend” to the LGBT+ community.
“Protecting the LGBT community from discrimination is not only right, but popular,” Angelo wrote at the time.
But Trump did not “keep his promise”. Later that year, he announced on Twitter that he would ban trans people from serving in the military – and Angelo was among his critics.
“The United States military includes transgender individuals who protect our freedom day in and day out,” Angelo said at the time.
“Excommunicating transgender soldiers only weakens our readiness; it doesn’t strengthen it.”
He also said the ban did a “disservice to transgender military personnel and reintroduces the same hurtful stereotypes conjured when openly gay men and women were barred from service during the military’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell era”.
Ex-Log Cabin Republican head once said Donald Trump is a ‘pro-LGBT president’.
But the same year, Angelo insisted in an interview with the Huffington Post that Trump was a “pro-LGBT” president, and said the trans military ban did not change that.
“We have never had a Republican president who so candidly and openly discussed not only gay, not only lesbian, not only bisexual but transgender Americans as well,” Angelo said at the time.
Angelo’s comments are at odds with the Trump administration’s track record on LGBT+ rights.
From arguing that trans youth playing school sports violates the civil rights of cisgender youth to using the guise of religious freedom to undermine protections for LGBT+ kids, the Trump administration has made itself unpopular with the queer community.
Last year, the Department of Justice filed briefs to the Supreme Court saying that it’s legal to fire trans people because of their gender identity. A later brief said it was legal to fire people based on their sexual orientation — though the Court has since ruled that neither is true.
PinkNews has contacted the White House Office of Drug Control Policy for comment on Angelo’s appointment.
