I recently said on twitter to a few followers who felt the brunt of my anger, "You can forgive my anger as you will, and I appreciate your words of kindness. But kind words have been letting me down for years". This is a true statement, and it is no less true today.I've heard many Trump supporters who, when faced with my anger, my pain, and my fear, tell me that should anything happen to threaten my rights, they will have my back. Well, pardon me for calling bullshit on that because something JUST HAPPENED to threaten my rights and you voted it into office. When you had the chance to support me and my kind, you didn't but now suddenly you will? Sorry, I don't actually believe you anymore. And really I've never believed you.
But, they say, Trump is really good on LGBT rights. In reality, we have no clue about his LGBT rights. What we have is a number of flip flopping statements and a photo op which is just a picture of him holding the pride flag upside down, with that "I'm the best, look at the best things I do" shit face grin. That means nothing, but LGBT republicans are flocking to that as proof to get them off the hook for the bad thing they just did.
So in the valley of blank that is Trump's stance on LGBT rights and lives, let's look into what we do know. Trump has vowed to overturn Obama's executive orders and policies and LGBT polices are included in that sweeping statement. So regulations that protect housing and health coverage, leave benefits, and transgender issues are out the door. This was confirmed by Mike Pence, who just last month said they would make sure to reverse these measures .
Trump also stated that he would appoint Supreme Court Justices that would overturn Obergefell - which he found a shocking decision - and that it needs to go back to the states to once again have a Frankenstein's monster of patchwork rights.
Trump also stated that he would sign the First Amendment Defense Act which is basically the smoke screen for allowing any business to deny LGBT people service under the idea that I offend their deeply held religious beliefs. And since these things are usually worded so vaguely to avoid being immediately struck down by a court of law, who knows who else is going to be swept up into this wave of protection.
But that's not enough for people. No, they think he is still an unknown on LGBT issues. So let's look at the people that he is surrounding himself with.
Mike Pence - even worse that Trump. He is seems to be the old school evangelical that loves to hate the gays... errr.. loves to hate the sin of the gays like that makes a fucking difference. His stances are odious and harmful and are listed here.
Ken Blackwell - he's on Trump's transition team and is a senior Fellow at the Famly Research Council. If you don't know who the FRC is, count yourself lucky that you've not run into this hate group. But among Ken's many statements, Ken likes to think that the gays can be changed with the right treatment.
Ed Meese - another of Trump's transition team. He's a fellow at the Heritage Foundation, again if you haven't run into them, lucky you. The Heritage Foundation just loves to day that protecting LGBT folks isn't necessary and we weaken the marriage culture. Plus, the Heritage Foundation is helping to vet people for Trump's cabinet. Let that sink in for a moment. They want to make sure Trump's cabinet meets their ideals.
Kay Cole James - more from the transition team here. She's a former senior vice president of the Family Research Council. We just talked about them, but Kay likes to compare LGBT people to drug addicts, alcoholics, adulterers, or anything else sinful. So much fun.
His cabinet appointees are already a list of people who are pretty bad on LGBT rights -
- Pam Bondi
- Mike Huckabee
- Ben Carson
- Rick Scott
- Jan Brewer
- Jeff Sessions
And it goes on. So, if you want to say that Trump is a blank slate on LGBT rights, his choices for advisers to surround him really fill in those blanks, and fill them in poorly. This is what LGBT people see when looking at a Trump administration, and this is why they are afraid for their rights.
We remember Prop 8, when that was never supposed to pass and take away our marriage rights, but it did. We remember the Defense of Marriage Act from people who at least said they were in our corner, and Trump has barely said that. We are a group that has been under attack for a very long time, and you just want to wave your hand and tell us to wait and see. We've seen plenty and if you have been too blind to see it or just ignoring it to sleep at night, that's on you not me. I'm not letting you off the hook, I'm not willing to believe that you will suddenly have my back.
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