In 2016 Log Cabin Republicans refused to endorse then-candidate Donald Trump.
For 2020, the largest national grassroots group representing LGBT conservatives and allies has completely changed its tune. In a widely circulated Washington Post op-ed published Thursday, the group’s chairman and vice chairwoman, Robert Kabel and Jill Homan, explained that “Trump met his commitments to LGBTQ Americans.” Thus, they write, “He has our endorsement.”
Trump met his commitments to LGBTQ Americans. He has our endorsement, write Robert Kabel and @jillhoman of @LogCabinGOP https://t.co/Exher9mLTS
— Washington Post Opinions (@PostOpinions) August 15, 2019
This comes as a shock to many on the activist Left, but it really shouldn’t. It makes complete sense that for gay Republicans, who otherwise support most of the GOP’s agenda, President Trump’s record on gay and lesbian issues is good enough to earn their endorsement. He’s certainly the most pro-gay Republican president in American history.
As the Log Cabin leaders note, Trump has fought to end HIV, launched a campaign to decriminalize homosexuality internationally, and appointed high-level gay people to his administration, such as Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell.
Trump waved the rainbow flag at a campaign rally, entered office fine with same-sex marriage, and just recently said it was “great” to see Pete Buttigieg, an openly gay married man, running for president. The president said he had “no problem with it whatsoever.”
It’s very clear that when it comes to gay issues, Trump represents a new, more-evolved generation of Republicans. As Log Cabin acknowledges in their op-ed, a few Trump administration policies such as the transgender military ban stand out as exceptions to the rule in an otherwise good record. But even this is not the radical assault on transgender equality that critics paint it to be — rather, it’s just a return to the hard-line policy that reigned supreme under former President Obama for several years.
Meanwhile, Trump’s progressive gay critics have increasingly come unhinged. They lie, mislead, and fearmonger about his various relatively benign and minor policies they construe as “anti-LGBT,” to feed the victim narrative that keeps the checks coming into the bank accounts of their so-called “gay rights” advocacy organizations.
They’ve come up with entire laundry lists of supposedly anti-gay policies that Trump has enacted, but when viewed each in turn with a level head, most of their complaints lack merit and were clearly made in bad faith. The recent fake outrage over Trump’s new Labor Department rule (regarding hiring by religious organizations) is just the latest example of bad-faith hysteria on this issue from the activist Left.
There are plenty of reasons why gay conservatives or libertarians, such as myself, may not support Trump, ranging from his foolish trade policy to hard-line immigration enforcement or well documented personal flaws. But his record on gay issues shouldn’t pose any obstacles.
