LGBTQ people make Donald Trump “uncomfortable” claims lesbian niece
Mary Trump called Trump's ban on transgender people in the military "disgusting" and said he's "not [an] ally"
Donald Trump’s lesbian niece claims that the president is “uncomfortable” around gay and transgender people and said he’s not an “ally” of the community, as some have claimed.
Speaking to The Advocate, Mary Trump also slammed Trump’s ban on transgender people in the military, calling it “disgusting,” and said it was “absurd” that her uncle believed gay people liked him.
Trump tore apart any notion that Donald Trump is an ally to the LGBTQ community during the interview — something he has previously touted, including during the 2016 campaign, where he claimed he would be a better “friend” to LGBTQ people than former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Asked about Donald Trump’s claims that gay people “love” him, Mary Trump told The Advocate that it was “absurd.”
“It’s just absurd,” Trump said. “What’s worse [is] that on some level, he’s actually convinced himself that that is true. Anyone who takes that seriously should be discounted out of hand.”
Trump also tore into White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany, who last week praised Donald Trump’s “great record” with the LGBTQ community while ignoring his ban on transgender service members.
“First of all, that woman hasn’t told the truth since her very first appearance,” Trump said, adding, “It’s grotesque to me that the American taxpayer pays her salary, and all she does is lie to them.”
She then claimed that her uncle is “uncomfortable” around LGBTQ people.
“I think gay people make him [Trump] uncomfortable with male homosexuality. He’s like guys with no self-awareness,” she said. “And trans people make him uncomfortable because he’s uncomfortable with anyone that’s different. And that includes differently-abled, different color of skin, and different beliefs.”
Pivoting back to McEnany’s assertion of a “great record,” Trump said, “I really don’t think gay issues occupy any of his attention, but how McEnany could say that with a straight face, knowing that one of the very first things he did, without consulting anybody, was to kick trans people out of the armed services. It’s disgusting.
“He’s not [an] ally of the gay community, or really any community for that matter,” she continued. “Donald doesn’t have any concern or beliefs beyond his own self-interest. His enablers tell him to enact a certain policy, and he’ll do it. He doesn’t care.”
Trump also needled Log Cabin Republicans, saying she has “never understood” the conservative LGBTQ organization.
“There is a significant minority of people in this country who are comfortable voting against their own self-interest, whether it’s their sexuality, race, or economic status,” she said. “It’s really astonishing.”
Donald Trump has used his administration to repeatedly attack LGBTQ rights during his more than three years in office, with GLAAD’s Trump Accountability Project registering 161 attacks on LGBTQ people.
That includes the administration stripping discrimination protections for transgender people from the Affordable Care Act during a global pandemic, as well as pushing ahead with plans to allow shelters to deny access to trans people — as well as telling shelters how to identify trans people including advising them to look for “facial hair” and “the presence of an Adam’s apple.”
Read more: Trump administration tells homeless shelters how to identify and deny access to trans women
A State Department commission purporting to be examining “Unalienable Rights” in American foreign policy also branded same-sex marriage a “divisive” controversy and argued that religious freedom should be elevated about LGBTQ rights.
His administration has also defended an Idaho law that bars trans female athletes from competing in women’s sports, argued that foster care agencies should be allowed to discriminate against same-sex couples, and hired a White House liaison who called America a “homo-empire” ruled by a “tyrannical LGBT agenda.”
And that’s only in the last couple of months.
The Trump administration has also argued that it should be legal to fire LGBTQ employees, rescinded Obama-era guidance protecting transgender students, attempted to forcibly discharge HIV-positive members of the military, and fought to revoke the citizenship of a gay couple’s child.
Plus, Trump has nominated numerous anti-LGBTQ judges, hired anti-LGBTQ figures to his cabinet (including his vice president), and surrounded himself with anti-LGBTQ advisers.
His administration’s actions have been so blatantly anti-LGBTQ that in November last year, the bipartisan U.S. Commission on Civil Rights declared that Trump had “blatantly and deliberately” targeted LGBTQ people during his presidency. One member of the commission stated that Trump was “undoing decades of civil and human rights progress.”
Read more:
Trump supporter yells “kill transgenders” while protesting Black Lives Matter rally in Pennsylvania
Most gay and bi men hid COVID symptoms from sexual partners, study finds
[bookshelf id=’2′]
Support Metro Weekly’s Journalism
These are challenging times for news organizations. And yet it’s crucial we stay active and provide vital resources and information to both our local readers and the world. So won’t you please take a moment and consider supporting Metro Weekly with a membership? For as little as $5 a month, you can help ensure Metro Weekly magazine and MetroWeekly.com remain free, viable resources as we provide the best, most diverse, culturally-resonant LGBTQ coverage in both the D.C. region and around the world. Memberships come with exclusive perks and discounts, your own personal digital delivery of each week’s magazine (and an archive), access to our Member's Lounge when it launches this fall, and exclusive members-only items like Metro Weekly Membership Mugs and Tote Bags! Check out all our membership levels here and please join us today!
