Only a small number of individuals in our community – mostly Log Cabin Republicans – believe Donald Trump supports LGBTQ+ citizens. Most question his support of anything that isn’t far right, evangelical and Caucasian.
While there is little doubt for most LGBTQ+ individuals and allies of the community about Trump’s lack of support, there are those that would argue that Trump does show some degree of LGBTQ+ tolerance by allowing queer Americans in his administration, such as Billionaire Treasury Secretary Scott Bessant and Trump loyalist Richard Grenell, who is the current interim director of the Kennedy Center.
A gay political action group that routinely acknowledges that “support,” the Log Cabin Republicans, (LCR) are a mostly white and gay male conservative organization that rarely wavers in their support of the re-elected president.
“He’s working to establish common sense once again,” said Ed Williams, LCR’s executive director. “On the whole, we think he’s the best president ever for our community. He’s managed to support us in ways that we have never been supported by any administration. We are vastly accepted within our party now.”
Despite Williams’ claims of Trump being “the best president ever,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in an early June press conference that Trump had “no plans” to issue a proclamation recognizing June as Pride Month.
Leavitt’s statement, combined with actions from other members of the administration, makes it clear efforts to cancel LGBTQ+ culture is a top priority. In an outright attempt to dissolve recognition of Pride Month, the U.S. Department of Education, under the direction of Linda McMahon, announced recognition of June as “Title IX Month” on June 2, purporting to honor the fifty-third anniversary of Title IX.
“June will now be dedicated to commemorating women and celebrating their struggle for, and achievement of, equal educational opportunity. Throughout the month, the Department will highlight actions taken to reverse the Biden Administration’s legacy of undermining Title IX and announce additional actions to protect women in line with the true purpose of Title IX,” the opening paragraph reads.
While Trump has never issued Pride Month proclamations in either of his terms, there is a minor exception of support that exists. Trump referenced Pride when he attempted a global campaign to decriminalize homosexuality in 2019 with an initiative led by Grenell, then the U.S. Ambassador to Germany and the highest-profile openly gay man in the administration at the time.
Despite that minor past acknowledgment and the small number of gay men serving in his administration, Trump – as expected – continues to push for his administration to cull any information that might be considered even remotely DEI related in the federal government, which includes major LGBTQ+ community contributions and protections.
Another of the administration’s latest efforts comes at the hands of U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who on June 3 ordered the Navy to remove the name of gay rights icon and military veteran Harvey Milk from one of its ships, a generally taboo action among armed forces culture. A statement released by the administration reportedly confirmed the action of removing Milk’s name during Pride Month was intentional and that the move was part of “reestablishing the warrior culture” in the military service, as reported by Military.com.
In other military related activities from the administration, Trump has gone out of his way to re-introduce and embellish the ban on transgender people from joining the military (he originally did so in 2017). He is currently in the process of dismissing those actively serving, doing away with any exceptions he made during his first term.
