New York City-based gay activist Allen
Roskoff has called for a boycott of Donald Trump's business interests
over his opposition to all forms of legal recognition for gay and
lesbian couples, including marriage.
After announcing last month at the
Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) that he's considering
a run for president as a Republican, Trump told Fox News' Greta Van
Susteren that he's opposed to abortion rights and gay marriage.
“New York is a place with lots of
gays, and I think it's great,” Trump said. “But I'm not in favor
of gay marriage.”
“They should not be able to marry,”
he told the Des Moines Register on Thursday, then added, “As
of this moment, I would say no and no” to gay marriage and civil
benefits for gay couples.
Roskoff, who was the first openly gay
appointed official in New York City, called the 64-year-old CEO of
Trump Organization and host of the NBC reality show The Apprentice
“an extreme bigot.”
“Not only should gays be furious, we
should be boycotting the products of the advertisers on his TV show
and certainly boycotting his casinos and hotels and apartment
buildings,” Roskoff
told The New York Daily News.
“His game plan [in Iowa] is to appeal
to the extreme right,” Roskoff added. “How he does business in
New York, how he's tolerated is beyond me. I think things are going
to change for him.”