Amid the seemingly endless stream of bad news coming from Washington, D.C., this past week was a rumor that President Donald Trump was gearing up to add LGBT protections to the list of rights he’s attacking by executive order. After a flurry of tweets and news stories, the White House issued a carefully crafted statement that Trump was leaving in place President Obama’s 2014 executive order that banned federal contractors from discriminating because of someone’s sexual orientation or gender identity.
It was the olive branch some in the LGBT community may have been desperate for, and the “I told you so” moment for conservatives who tried to quell liberal resistance to Trump. But we say not so fast.
So Trump isn’t lifting an order that says federal contractors can’t fire people because they’re LGBT? Nor should he. He shouldn’t be given an ally badge because of that; that plays into the narrative he sought to create when hoisting an (upside-down) rainbow flag at a press event for the cameras.
On Tuesday morning, Trump proclaimed he’s a supporter of LGBT rights and by Tuesday evening he was welcoming virulently antigay extremist Tony Perkins to the White House for his unveiling of his firmly conservative Supreme Court pick. Actions speaker infinitely louder than words and every concrete action Trump has taken in his first two weeks is damaging to the LGBT community.
His “wall” will tear families apart, including LGBT people. The Muslim and refugee ban will extinguish hope for any LGBT people desperate to flee war-torn areas. And his pledge to abolish the Affordable Care Act will have a disproportionately harmful effect on LGBT people and those with HIV/AIDS. That’s to say nothing of his cabinet picks. Across the board, each one has a poor record on LGBT issues; from education to housing to criminal justice, the leaders Trump has selected to guide these policy areas are bringing with them histories of restricting LGBT rights.
Trump stated he will keep the contracting order in place. That’s great. What he did not state is whether or not he may add a religious exemption to it. Or if he will issue any other “religious-freedom” orders; let’s remember, Trump has pledged to sign the proposed First Amendment Defense Act, which would give businesses the right to discriminate against LGBT people if they’re moved by their “religious beliefs.” There are countless areas where Trump could have made actual stands on LGBT equality: conversion therapy, marriage rights, youth bullying, senior housing, hate crimes. He missed the mark on every single one.
Let’s not applaud him for the crumb he’s thrown the community, when the rest of the cookie is poisonous.