Op-ed: Trump Must Stand Up for LGBT+ Rights
Over the course of the 2016 [campaign], Donald Trump routinely flip-flopped on issues of equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans* Americans. After first saying he would consider appointing Supreme Court justices who would overturn nationwide marriage equality, he soon made it a recurring talking point to highlight how he would be “better for the gays” than his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton. This was mainly to bolster his extreme anti-Muslim stance on immigration after a shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando last June left forty-nine people dead. The shooter, who had indeed pledged allegiance to the Islamic State, was in fact American-born.
LGBT Americans have good reason to be nervous about what the Trump administration means for the huge advances made under former US President Barack Obama. Trump’s inner circle is full of people who’ve made controversial and offensive statements. Vice President Mike Pence is a proponent of gay conversion therapy, which has been proven ineffective and leaves many young people psychologically damaged. A Pence spokesman denied the vice-president supports the discredited practice and told the New York Times that a past campaign statement had been misinterpreted.