As the nation’s capital and cities from Boston to West Hollywood, Calif., prepare for gay pride events this weekend, the White House is committing to President Trump’s recent embrace of LGBT Pride Month. But Trump is having a hard time winning over skeptics.
After two years of silence, Trump last week became the first GOP president to recognize the month, with a call for the global decriminalization of homosexuality.
….on the basis of their sexual orientation. My Administration has launched a global campaign to decriminalize homosexuality and invite all nations to join us in this effort!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 31, 2019
Aide Kellyanne Conway amplified his stance, calling him the first president to take office “approving of gay marriage.”
But the left-leaning Human Rights Campaign denounced Trump’s words as “propaganda” that belied negative actions by his administration, including Trump’s transgender military ban and rollback of anti-discrimination rules.
Others expressed doubts about Trump’s sincerity, including former Rep. Robert Bauman, R-Md., who was outed as gay in 1980 before losing reelection.
“I assume someone calculated on his part that it’s beneficial politically,” Bauman told the Washington Examiner.
Bauman said Trump was the first Republican candidate for president he did not vote for — over policies unrelated to gay rights — and that Trump “was for abortion before he was against abortion,” and may be similarly fickle in his latest remarks.
The former Republican congressman, who authored a 1986 book about being a gay conservative, said he opposes Trump because of “his disregard for the Constitution that he doesn’t seem to know anything about” and the fact that he “conducts his administration as though he is a dictator.”
The White House defended Trump’s sincerity. White House spokesman Judd Deere said in a statement that Trump has always “opposed discrimination of any kind” against gay and transgender people and “never considered LGBT Americans second class citizens.”
“Donald Trump, as a private citizen and as president, has stood strong with a message of inclusion and advocated for the equal treatment of all, including the LGBT community,” Deere said, calling Trump “the first U.S. President in our history to favor same-sex marriage when he was sworn in.”
Former President Barack Obama opposed legal recognition of same-sex marriage until 2012. Hillary Clinton dropped her opposition in 2013.
Trump, meanwhile, has many enthusiastic gay supporters. As a candidate, he posed with a rainbow flag. During an April visit to Texas, a supporter watched his motorcade with a rainbow flag in one hand and a Trump reelection flag in the other. A woman photo-bombing a New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio press conference in Trump Tower last month held a flag saying “LGBT for Trump.”
But Trump’s choice of Mike Pence as vice president upset gay activists. Trump reportedly joked that Pence “wants to hang” gay people. And despite saying as a candidate that he didn’t care which Trump Tower bathroom transgender Caitlyn Jenner used, he abruptly ordered a transgender military ban in 2017.
And while Trump recognized the month in tweets and a supplementary White House statement, he has not issued a formal proclamation, as did Obama.
In a recent series of events, however, Trump’s gay ambassador to Germany, Richard Grenell, launched a campaign to persuade other countries to legalize homosexuality, and Trump said in a Fox News interview that “it’s good” to see Democratic presidential candidate and South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg campaign with his husband.
Bauman said Trump’s recent remarks are unlikely to have a political effect. He believes most voters will overlook gay rights as their primary voting concern, as he did for years when the Republican Party took a more hostile stance.
“I don’t think he gets very many gay votes,” Bauman said. “I don’t think Trump could do anything that could convert gay people on the Left that oppose him. They are dissatisfied for other issues.”
Bauman added he doesn’t believe Trump’s embrace means an end to culture-war tensions over homosexuality.
“Trump is not a bellwether for society. He is an aberration,” Bauman said.
