After Three Years of Attacking L.G.B.T.Q. Rights, Trump Suddenly Tries Outreach
-
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/26/us/politics/trump-lgbtq-rights.html
The month of June was filled with big moments for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.
In that monthlong stretch, the Supreme Court rendered a sweeping decision providing workplace protections for gay and transgender people. It came shortly before the fifth anniversary of the high court’s landmark ruling on marriage equality. L.G.B.T.Q. people and others commemorated the murder of 49 people at the Pulse nightclub in Florida in June 2016. Thousands marched in Brooklyn, N.Y., in support of Black transgender lives.
President Trump was almost entirely silent through it all.
There was no tweet in honor of Pride Month, despite suggestions from several aides to Mr. Trump that he write one. No rollout of a coalition aimed at L.G.B.T.Q. voters by his campaign, despite preparations that had been made for one. Embassies overseas were told they couldn’t fly the Pride flag.
There was, however, a rollback by the Trump administration of a regulation put in place by the Obama administration in 2016 to mandate health care as a civil right for transgender patients under the Affordable Care Act.
It is what many in the L.G.B.T.Q. coalition have come to expect from Mr. Trump, who during his 2016 presidential campaign used gay people as a wedge against Muslims, whom he painted broadly as extremists, following the shootings at Orlando’s Pulse nightclub by a Muslim man. While Mr. Trump has signaled a willingness to publicly align himself with some gay men and women, he selected a deeply conservative running mate in Vice President Mike Pence, and, as president, has systematically dismantled protections implemented by President Barack Obama, especially for transgender people.
Just over two months before Election Day, Mr. Trump is trailing in almost every poll to Joseph R. Biden Jr., the Democratic nominee, whom activists credit with pushing Mr. Obama to support gay marriage. And Mr. Trump’s advisers are suddenly talking about L.G.B.T.Q. people as they scramble to find new voter support.
-
Dude, you've got to be kidding. You have no idea what you're talking about.
