President Trump’s left-wing critics say he is the most anti-gay and anti-transgender president in history.
No, I’m not exaggerating.
Human Rights Campaign President Alphonso David has repeatedly argued that Trump, the first president to enter office supportive of gay marriage, is the “worst president on LGBTQ issues ever.” That’s right: The man who runs the biggest left-wing gay and transgender rights organization in the country actually thinks that Trump is more anti-gay than presidents were 200 years ago.
Meanwhile, prominent top left-wing activists in the gay and transgender community argue that for gay and transgender voters, electing Joe Biden in November is a matter of life and death.
“LGBTQ voters are poised to make a deciding difference this election year,” GLAAD President Kate Ellis has said. “Our community understands how much is at stake in this election. We cannot sit this one out — our very lives are on the line.”
These unhinged exaggerations are, sadly, not fringe examples, but fairly representative of the disposition of the mainstream left-leaning gay and transgender communities and their Democratic Party allies. Still, people of good faith may seriously believe that while these criticisms are exaggerated, the Trump administration is indeed anti-gay and actively undermining equality for gay and transgender people.
But a new poll, from GLAAD itself, casts serious doubt on this narrative.
The Trump administration’s record is not perfect, and its transgender military restrictions stand out as one example where it did implement an unfair anti-transgender policy. Yet from false claims that Trump was stripping citizenship from the children of gay Americans to distortions of Department of Justice positions, people have been fed a steady stream of stories about “anti-LGBTQ” actions by this administration that are often either exaggerated or baseless.
One good sign that the Trump administration isn’t actually very “anti-LGBT” at all is the fact that Trump’s share of the gay and transgender vote is set to increase this November. In 2016, he received 14% of the LGBT vote. Yet GLAAD’s new poll (which, if anything, skews leftward and likely underestimates Trump’s support) puts his expected 2020 support among LGBT voters at 17%.
The survey finds that 18% of gay men, 11% of lesbian women, and 18% of transgender people plan on voting for Trump.
With the 2020 presidential election just a month away, 75% of #LGBTQ voters say they support @JoeBiden while 17% back @realDonaldTrump according to a new poll from @glaadhttps://t.co/kCFY4zfIIZ via @ItsDanAvery
— NBC Out (@NBCOUT) October 1, 2020
To argue that Trump is the most anti-LGBT president in history means suggesting, with a straight face, that nearly 1 in 5 gay men and nearly 1 in 5 transgender people intend to vote for a man who hates them.
And it seems absurd to argue that the Trump administration has been viciously against gay and transgender people seeing as Trump appears to have gained, not lost, support among gay and transgender voters over four years.
But don’t expect this poll, or any other dose of reality, to change the hyperbolic, anti-Trump tone coming out of the LGBT activist class. Why?
It’s the money, stupid.
As I’ve previously detailed:
Left-wing activists simply have to keep stirring up fake controversies and fueling identitarian grievance. Otherwise, the donor checks that fund their cushy salaries might start to dry up.
Brad Polumbo (@Brad_Polumbo) is a conservative journalist and Washington Examiner contributor.
