A simple rule of thumb is that if you are going to try to entice a specific group of citizens to support your campaign for public office, include all the members and definitely do not make it obscenely obvious that you are willing to ignore any segment of it.
Another good rule of thumb is not to assume those to whom you speak are uninformed.
Trump’s youngest daughter, Tiffany, spoke at what was billed as a “LGBTQ pride” campaign event.
Before she even spoke, however, it was clear this was a staged photo-op with no desire to actually speak honestly to the GLBT Community, but to bolster Trump’s claim that he is the best friend and president the GLBT Community has ever had.
The first sign that things were not on the level was that the event was not proudly announced, but was subjected to quiet and limited notification you had to stumble on, or was promoted through the grape-vine touting it as “a diverse coalition dedicated to re-electing President Trump, the first president to begin his presidency in support of marriage equality.”
Second, the banner in the background, reflected in the sign on the podium, did not say “GLBT Pride”, or any title or collection of relevant letters that could have been attached to acknowledge the Community, but it proclaimed “Trump Pride” with PRIDE in just five of the six colors of the Pride Flag as if that half-hearted patronizing was the best that the Community was going to get.
Not content to just put his name on other people’s work, he put his name on Pride.
Her skipping the T and referring to the “LGBQIA Community” when upon gaining the stage she began with,
“I know what my father believes in. Prior to politics, he supported gays, lesbians, the LGBQIA+ community,”
was another sign that support of our Community was not inclusive.
As if she is totally uninformed and was banking on the Community forgetting its own history, the fight to gain rights, the need to defend them, and the attacks on it during the last four years, Tiffany told us that,
“Prior to politics, he supported gays, lesbians, the LGBQI – IA plus community, OK?”
But, it is not what he did before entering politics, but what he did when he was in a position to enact things.
Trump:
- Reversed Obama’s trans protections in schools.
- Banned transgender service members.
- Banned homeless trans people in shelters.
- Attempted to reverse Obama’s protections for trans people in health care.
- Nominated anti-GLBT judges with a third of the more than 50 circuit court judges having a verifiable history of anti-LGBTQ bias.
- Removed employment protections for GLBT people who work for government contractors
- Empowered the religious right, by creating anti-LGBTQ offices within federal agencies, supports and enables and white supremacists, white nationalists, and other domestic terrorists.
Don’t stand over the collected bodies of my slain family and explain that I should like the murderer because before he slaughtered my family, he had never killed anyone.
Tiffany’s attempt to appear that she knows of her father’s love for “The Gays” because she has Gay friends immediately exposed that below the surface lurking canard that we should ignore someone’s mistreatment of Gay people, or Black people, or LatinX people, because “I have (pick the group) friends” when she blanketly dismissed her Gay friends’ fears of the future and the influence of her father’s actions on their lives by saying,
“I have friends of mine who reached out. They make up stories. ‘How could you support your father? We know you. We know your best friends are gay.’”
Apparently unlike her Gay friends who have had life experiences that she neither has had nor of which she may very well be unaware, she has lived a life where she is able to dismiss them as being simply made up stories.
White, straight privilege can dismiss a lot, and in this case the life experiences of her alleged Gay, perhaps after this former, friends.
I should add one more easily missed feature of this event.
Although the announcement on the website of a the event included the statement,
“President Donald J. Trump is the only President to openly support the LGBT community since his first day in office. President Trump stands in solidarity with LGBT citizens by supporting and enacting policies and initiatives that protect the wellbeing and prosperity of all gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender Americans. TRUMP PRIDE is a diverse coalition dedicated to re-electing President Trump, the first President to begin his presidency in support of marriage equality. Through his bold plan to end the HIV epidemic to his global campaign to decriminalize homosexuality in the 69 nations where it is illegal, President Trump has proven himself to be a strong advocate for the LGBT community both at home and abroad,”
there is no reference to the event being a GLBT one, and, replacing “GLBT Pride” with “Trump Pride”, makes it seem it was about people’s feelings toward Trump.
Also interesting is that for most of the time, including during his presidency, Tiffany has been almost as invisible and excluded from public events as Melania’s son, as Trump has referred to Baron, so part of what is supposed to attract the GLBT Community was dusting off a virtually unknown person to speak on something of which she has little experience or knowledge, so it can be said the GLBT Community is close to Trump’s heart.
Sadly, I know some members of the GLBT Community who not only buy Trump’s best friend claim, but also believe that the life experiences of other, not being part of their experiences, are something “They make up”.
At no point in her speech did she stop gushing about her father’s imagined love of Gay people, and address anything relevant to GLBT citizens of the U.S., such as our rights and equality.
I have enough faith in the GLBT Community, that I believe this one act play was seen as the patronizing sham it was.
We, as a people, should be insulted by this game.