Right wing watchdog Right Wing Watch
has declared President Donald Trump's first year in office
“predictably awful” for the LGBT community.
According to Peter Montgomery, author
of The
Terrible Anti-LGBTQ First Year of the Promised 'Pro-Gay' President
Trump, there was no way Trump could make good on his promises
to the religious right without trampling on the rights of sexual
minorities.
Montgomery points out that activists
opposed to LGBT rights clearly understood that Trump's promise of
being a “friend” to the LGBT community was nothing more than
pandering for votes.
“Many LGBTQ people have been or will
be harmed by broad-based Trump-GOP policies, like the tax bill and
its assault on the Affordable Care Act, that also affect millions of
non-LGBTQ Americans. But LGBTQ Americans are also facing very focused
attacks from the Trump administration. That’s why NBC called
Trump’s first 100 days 'fear-inducing' for LGBTQ Americans. And by
mid-year, German Lopez at Vox was calling Trump’s campaign
promises to the LGBTQ community 'total bullshit' and Luke Darby at GQ
was calling the administration 'a disaster for LGBT Americans.' The
Human Rights Campaign’s Sarah McBride went even further, writing in
Cosmopolitan that the Trump administration has 'revealed
itself to be the ugliest, most explicitly anti-LGBTQ presidency in
U.S. history.' Journalist Michelangelo Signorile seconded that
emotion in September,” Montgomery wrote before listing some of the
president's low points.
The list ranges from supporting the
Alabama campaign of Roy Moore, a vocal opponent of LGBT rights, to
announcing on Twitter that he would ban transgender individuals from
serving in the armed forces “in any capacity” and supporting
conservative judges, including the nomination of Neil Gorsuch to the
Supreme Court.
Trump has also showered praise on
leaders and groups opposed to LGBT equality and filled key positions
in his administration with anti-LGBT individuals.