Donald Trump and his wife Melania. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Melania Trump blamed last Thursday (October 29) the “many enemies in the political establishment” on why people feel Donald Trump is anti-LGBT+, something she says she’s “shocked” about.
The First Lady has, throughout the president’s pique and caustic leadership, positioned herself almost as a balm of sorts to Trump – softer and more private on social issues.
The Log Cabin Republicans, a conservative LGBT+ organisation, appeared to try to play on such an image with a video featuring Melania saying that the Republican president “protect diversity”.
Indeed, Trump has clearly striven to “protect diversity” by stripping trans people of an array of protections across several branches of the federal government.
A pointless Department of Defence ban on trans troops, a rollback of healthcare protections by the Department of Health and Human Services, a proposal to allow homeless shelters to deny trans people access to single-sex shelters by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and efforts by the Education Department to both block trans students from using the bathroom which aligns with their gender, but also banning trans girls from joining female track teams in Connecticut high schools.
“I was shocked to discover that some of these powerful people have tried to paint my husband as anti-gay or against equality,” Melania said.
“Nothing could be further from the truth.”
First Lady Melania Trump supports freethinkers and trailblazers.
She is an ally for equality.
In this exclusive video, the First Lady gets unapologetically outspoken. pic.twitter.com/kc8UFDqaOB
— LogCabinRepublicans (@LogCabinGOP) October 29, 2020
Melania Trump, seemingly ignoring reality itself, paints the president as a beacon of equality.
In the video, Melania touts Trump as an “outsider” who was the “first president to enter the White House supporting gay marriage”.
Not quite. Trump spent many years openly opposing marriage equality, and simply said he was “fine” with the Supreme Court verdict to blanket-roll the right to all Americans – one that he himself has thrown into jeopardy by hastily appointing an anti-gay judge, tipping the courts to the right.
“It’s irrelevant because it’s already settled,” he added.
Moreover, Melania claimed that “as the leader of the Republican Party and president of the United States, Donald has been clear that gays and lesbians have been treated as he has always treated them, equally.”
Even putting aside the tacit acknowledgement that the administration has dimmed trans rights, queer monitoring groups would stress that, no, Trump has not treated lesbian and gay folk equally – he has sought to attack them some 181 times.
And during many of this year’s victories in the arena of LGBT+ rights as well as years’ worth of Pride months, Trump has remained silent or vastly indifferent.
When the president has been pressed about certain LGBT+ issues, such as the federal blood ban on queer men as well as his own campaign for the global decriminalisation of homosexuality, he has been utterly clueless.
The Republican Party also announced that it would be leaving its 2016 party platform unchanged, meaning that the GOP will continue to officially support the reversal of marriage equality.
Nevetheless, amid wiltering poll numbers, Trump campaign officials and allies have bulldozed with increasing temerity the view that Trump is pro-LGBT+ – complete with hlding “Trump Pride” rallies – in an effort to eke out further support from a voting bloc long indifferent to Republicans.