Ted Olson Doesn't Think Donald Trump Would Undo LGBT Advances

Ted Olson, the lead attorney in marriage equality lawsuits in Virginia and California, said last week that Donald Trump was not likely to roll back LGBT rights if elected president.

Olson, a former U.S. solicitor general under President George W. Bush, made history as part of the first team to file a federal lawsuit against state laws that restrict marriage to opposite-sex couples. In 2009, Olson and David Boies challenged California's voter-approved Proposition 8, striking fear in the hearts of LGBT activists who worried that a conservative U.S. Supreme Court would set back the marriage equality movement decades.

Olson and Boies filed a similar federal lawsuit challenging Virginia's marriage ban.

In 2015, the Supreme Court found that gay and lesbian couples have a constitutional right to marry in a separate case from Ohio.

Trump has said that he's opposed to marriage equality and that his Supreme Court nominees would be modeled after the late Justice Antonin Scalia, a vocal dissenter in last year's marriage ruling. The Republican nominee also supports passage of the First Amendment Defense Act (FADA), a federal bill which seeks to ban federal “discriminatory action” against those who oppose the unions of gay couples based on a “religious belief or moral conviction.”

Olson told the Washington Blade that he believes Trump will be “fine” with LGBT rights.

“He can't change marriage issues,” Olson told the paper. “The Supreme Court decided it's a constitutional question.”

“He couldn't change it if he wanted. I just don't think he would change any of that. I don't think that is something that is on his mind, but I don't have any special knowledge,” Olson added.

Other Republicans attending the Log Cabin Republicans annual Spirit of Lincoln dinner, including Americans for Tax Reform President Grover Norquist, echoed similar sentiments.

FADA, however, would work to undermine the high court's ruling and stocking the court with conservative judges opposed to LGBT rights may lead to a reversal of last year's groundbreaking decision.