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WaPo: A history of Trump’s shifting relationship with the LGBT community

K

KSweeley

Member
WaPo has published this article about Trump's relationship with the LGBT community: https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...-eeb7d3a2d304_story.html?wpisrc=nl_amk&wpmm=1

For decades leading up to President Trump’s Wednesday tweets announcing a ban on transgender people in the military, the businessman-turned-politician has approached the LGBT community on nonideological terms.

Trump’s relationships with LGBT people, and his evolving positions on issues, have been transactional, according to people who have interacted with him, focused largely on how the community might affect his interests in the moment.

Only a year ago, candidate Trump presented himself as a social liberal seeking to move the Republican Party left on gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender rights.

He vowed that he would do more than Democrat Hillary Clinton to protect LGBT people. He defended the rights of Caitlyn Jenner, the country’s most well-known transgender advocate, to use whichever bathroom she wanted in Trump Tower. And he added “Q” to his discussion of the “LGBTQ community” in his Republican National Convention speech to show he was in the know.

“People are people to me, and everyone should be protected,” he told The Washington Post in a May 2016 interview.

But circumstances have been changing since Trump entered the White House.

While his staff has met with LGBT advocates and he has hired several New Yorkers who have supported LGBT rights in the past, Trump’s administration has taken positions more in tune with the president’s social conservative base. It has quietly rolled back protections for transgender schoolchildren, removed information about LGBT rights from the White House website and declined to recognize LGBT Pride Month in June.

Trump’s tweets on Wednesday delivered yet another a victory to the political right — including many House Republicans whose support he needs for his policy agenda — while surprising many Republican LGBT activists who had hoped he would end the culture war within the party.

Those familiar with Trump say his stances aren’t contradictory, but rather illustrate the consistency of his instincts to shape his views depending on the moment.

“I don’t believe Donald Trump has an personal animus toward LGBT individuals,” said Gregory T. Angelo, president of the Log Cabin Republicans, which represents gay conservatives and allies. “This smacks of politics, pure and simple.”

Angelo, who once labeled Trump the “most pro-LGBT Republican nominee in history,” said there seems to be a political calculation that reigniting the transgender rights debate will help galvanize conservative voters in the 2018 elections and expand GOP majorities in Congress. A more conservative Congress would allow Trump to achieve more legislative victories, such as his coveted border wall with Mexico or erasing President Barack Obama’s health-care overhaul.

“If you think you’re going to repeal and replace Obamacare by using LGBT soldiers as a political football, you’ve got another thing coming,” Angelo said.
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S

Saya

Member
Here's one surprised Republican

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a
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L

Lunar15

Member
Trump is a fucking liar that only thinks about the current moment and says exactly what people want to hear in that moment so he can feel like someone loves him. Shocking.
 
A

Autodidact

Banned
The Log Cabin Republicans are the political equivalent of, "Daddy, please stop hitting us! We're not like those other ones."

I can't even comprehend the self-loathing you'd need to support a party that at best views you with indifference and at worst as a sin against humanity deserving of electroshock treatment. Though I try to be tolerant of my fellow gays, I've just never been able to see the logic in being a Republican.
 
L

Llyrwenne

Unconfirmed Member
'Shifting'? 'Shifting' how?
Only a year ago, candidate Trump presented himself as a social liberal seeking to move the Republican Party left on gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender rights.
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Only a year ago? Mike Pence was already his running mate at that point.

At no point did Trump genuinely care for any part of the LGBTQ+ community. He only 'supported' (if shallow and meaningless words can even be considered 'support') us when he thought it would make his businesses more money and when he thought he could get more votes from it. Now he has dropped the charade and dumped the community entirely in his desperation for a 'political win'. The LGBTQ+ community was at no point more than a tool to him.
 
Haunted

Haunted

Member
Those familiar with Trump say his stances aren’t contradictory, but rather illustrate the consistency of his instincts to shape his views depending on the moment.
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:lol :lol :lol
 
S

Sho_Nuff82

Member
Angelo, who once labeled Trump the ”most pro-LGBT Republican nominee in history,"
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Even if this were true, it means the most progressive Republican in history still doesn't think gay and trans citizens are fully people worth the protection of the law or equal opportunity for employment.

LGBTQ voters need to read this and accept it.

Funky Papa said:
How are Log Cabin Republicans still a thing.


How.
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Black Americans ask the same thing about Black Republicans after every election. And especially after Sessions, and the parade of white nationalists walking through the WH at the moment.
 
B

Brawly Likes to Brawl

Member
It's not a "shift", it's called lying. Every LGBT+ person with a brain knew this guy was full of shit and only trying to prey on individuals who's fear of Muslims outpaced their sense of self-preservation.
 
M

Misha

Banned
Only a year ago, candidate Trump presented himself as a social liberal seeking to move the Republican Party left on gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender rights.
Click to expand...

The media did this. Trump supported HB2, said he would what he could to get rid of same sex marriage, and of course chose pence as a running mate. His "positive" statements were a mix of lukewarm agreement with whoever interviewed him, generic "I'm the best" statements used for comparing himself against Hillary, and attempts to use LGBT people against other minorities like saying he'd protect us from muslims

Quite frankly it's offensive that people still claim this narrative
 
S

Shandy

Member
The thing about Trump is that he doesn't believe in anything besides his money and his ego. Oh, and fucking his daughter.
 
G

Glix

Member
Autodidact said:
The Log Cabin Republicans are the political equivalent of, "Daddy, please stop hitting us! We're not like those other ones."

I can't even comprehend the self-loathing you'd need to support a party that at best views you with indifference and at worst as a sin against humanity deserving of electroshock treatment. Though I try to be tolerant of my fellow gays, I've just never been able to see the logic in being a Republican.
Click to expand...

Angelo, who once labeled Trump the “most pro-LGBT Republican nominee in history,”
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It reads like fucking satire!
 
D

Draft

Member
Being gay and voting Republican is foolish. The Republican party is always one step shy of stripping fundamental rights from gay citizens as air cover for a spending agenda, or to shore up support from hard right religious conservatives. Gay people are not valued members of the Republican coalition.

No matter what a gay person believes on finances, defense, or spending, they should remember that fundamentally they are a second class citizen within the Republican caucus. The only major American political party that is willing to make sacrifices to advance a civil rights agenda for gay people is the Democrats.

Gay people should never vote Republican.
 
K

KSweeley

Member
Draft said:
Being gay and voting Republican is foolish. The Republican party is always one step shy of stripping fundamental rights from gay citizens as air cover for a spending agenda, or to shore up support from hard right religious conservatives. Gay people are not valued members of the Republican coalition.

No matter what a gay person believes on finances, defense, or spending, they should remember that fundamentally they are a second class citizen within the Republican caucus. The only major American political party that is willing to make sacrifices to advance a civil rights agenda for gay people is the Democrats.

Gay people should never vote Republican.
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Can you explain why there's the Log Party Republicans then?
 
K

KSweeley

Member
It's completely mind boggling to me that the Log Party Republicans still exist when the Republican party as a whole is clearly bigoted.
 
B

Brinbe

Member
Hahahaha what kinda naive idiots believed he has any principles at all? Bitch only cares about money and what people think about him.
 
M

Maledict

Member
KSweeley said:
It's completely mind boggling to me that the Log Party Republicans still exist when the Republican party as a whole is clearly bigoted.
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Because these are almost all well-off white gay men who don't need protection. These are people to whom the battle is basically 'over' - they seem Tim Cooke as the head of the worlds biggest company, they see gay marriage passed, and any change in republican policy won't affect them.

On that basis, the same shitty reasons other people have for voting republican kick in - tax cuts, a 'strong defense', and a fear / hatred of people of different backgrounds.
 
B

Brawly Likes to Brawl

Member
KSweeley said:
Can you explain why there's the Log Party Republicans then?
Click to expand...

They're mainly rich gays who care more about the financial footrubs that republicans give them than the threat they pose to the community as a whole, but they don't want to admit that, so they pretend that they're running some trojan horse operation to turn the GOP left on gay issues from the inside out.
 
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