Donald Trump seriously thinks he’s the ‘most pro-gay president in American history’. He’s launched 168 attacks against the LGBT+ community
Donald Trump holds an LGBT+ Pride flag given to him by supporter. (Getty/ Chip Somodevilla)
Donald Trump thinks he’s the “most pro-gay president in American history”, but his administration has so far launched 168 attacks against the LGBT+ community.
On Thursday, August 20, the Log Cabin Republicans, the largest group of LGBT+ conservatives in the US, released a video claiming that Donald Trump was the “most pro-gay president in American history”.
The video features Richard Grenell, who was the first of very few gay officials in the Trump administration, and who departed from his role as acting Director of National Intelligence after a few months.
Grenell claimed that he could “prove” that Trump was an LGBT+ ally, but the majority of the video was propped up with criticism of Joe Biden’s voting record in the 1990s.
My great honor!!! https://t.co/kh2a5yumef
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 20, 2020
He said: “President Trump has done more to advance the rights of gays and lesbians in three years than Joe Biden did in 40+ years in Washington.”
However, Grenell did not give any detail on how he’d made this comparison, and conveniently forgot about Biden’s extensive record on supporting LGBT+ rights and his comprehensive LGBT+ policy plan.
The only concrete examples that Grenell could give of Trump being pro-LGBT+ were his own appointment as acting Director of National Intelligence, and Trump’s supposed “historic campaign to decriminalise homosexuality around the world“.
Although much-touted by gay Trump supporters, there is little evidence that any such US-led campaign has ever existed beyond an initial press release.
Grenell finished the video by repeating: “Gay people don’t have to vote Democrat, because Donald Trump is the most pro-gay president in American history.”
Trump retweeted the Log Cabin Republicans’ video, and wrote: “My great honor!!!”
Far from being “pro-gay”, Donald Trump and his administration have relentlessly attacked the LGBT+ community.
GLAAD’s Trump Accountability Project has recorded 168 attacks on the LGBT+ community in the 1308 days Donald Trump has been in office, averaging out at slightly less than one regressive action every week.
The Trump administration has banned transgender people from serving in the military, actively supported discrimination against LGBT+ people in employment, services and healthcare and erased LGBT+ resources, data and language from government websites.
In June, Trump’s Republican Party announced that it would be leaving its 2016 party platform unchanged, meaning that the GOP will continue to officially support the reversal of marriage equality.
On June 12, 2020, the fourth anniversary of the Pulse massacre, the Trump administration cruelly erased precious healthcare protections for trans patients, although luckily the rollback was temporarily blocked by a federal judge this week.
The White House also failed to officially recognise Pride Month for yet again in 2020, in stark contrast to the Obama administration.
Trump’s re-election campaign has published no policies whatsoever on LGBT+ issues – though he is raising funds by selling rainbow ‘Make America Great Again’ t-shirts.
