Making Republican Party history, Trump vows to protect LGBTQ community

With five letters, Donald Trump brushed off decades of Republican reluctance to voice full-throated support for gay rights – at least for a night. Trump’s call in his speech to the Republican National Convention for protecting the “LGBTQ community” was a watershed moment for the Republican Party – the first time the issue has been raised in a Republican nomination address. Four years ago, Mitt Romney never uttered the word “gay”, much less the full acronym – standing for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer or questioning. But Trump, as if to drive the point home, said it not once, but twice. “I will do everything in my power to protect our LGBTQ citizens from the violence and oppression of a hateful foreign ideology,” Trump said. “Believe me.” If Republican delegates gathered in Cleveland to nominate Trump were caught off-guard, they didn’t show it. They cheered him – loudly. Even the candidate seemed surprised. “I have to say, as a Republican it is so nice to hear you cheering for what I just said,” Trump ad-libbed. “Thank you.” The unequivocal appeal for a more inclusive tone is likely to give Trump’s fellow Republicans permission to embrace the issue. It also puts Trump squarely at odds with the party platform adopted just three days earlier at his own nominating convention. In fact, the Republican platform moves further away from gay rights than in past years, with a new admonition of gay parenting that says kids raised by a mother and father tend to be “physically and emotionally healthier”. Opposition to gay marriage and bathroom choice for transgender people are preserved in the platform. I will do everything in my power to protect our LGBTQ citizens from the violence and oppression of a hateful foreign ideology Donald Trump To be sure, Trump is far from the candidate that gay rights advocates would have selected were the choice up to them. Unlike Hillary Clinton, who supports same-sex marriage, Trump has said he’d nominate Supreme Court justices who might overturn the ruling legalising it nationwide. He once called that ruling “shocking” and has said states should get to decide – a position in line with mainstream Republican orthodoxy. Yet the New York billionaire has often spoken effusively about his friendships with gay people while avoiding anti-gay rhetoric that many other Republican candidates have embraced. After a gunman claiming Islamic State allegiance killed 49 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, Trump said he’d be better than Clinton because he wouldn’t allow in Muslim immigrants who want to “murder gays”. ‘I am your voice’: Trump accepts nomination with dark warnings of a nation on the brink of disaster In another Republican first, an openly gay speaker acknowledged his sexuality on Thursday from the podium – and put fellow Republicans on the spot by saying he disagreed with parts of the platform. Peter Thiel, the co-founder of PayPal, said only Trump was being honest about how “fake culture wars” distract from America’s economic decline. “I am proud to be gay,” Thiel declared. “I am proud to be a Republican. But most of all, I am proud to be an American.” Those moments aside, however, Trump’s nominating convention featured awkward silences on the rare occasions when gay rights came up. The final evening also featured speeches by Family Research Council President Tony Perkins and evangelical leader Jerry Falwell Jnr, vehement opponents of gay rights. For those hoping Trump’s nomination will improve the party’s reputation among gay rights proponents, there’s another challenge: mainstream gay rights groups have denounced Trump, arguing that tolerance for one minority group doesn’t excuse prejudice toward others – like Hispanics and Muslims – or unflattering comments about women. “His hatred toward anybody is a huge concern,” said Jay Brown of the Human Rights Campaign. “When he attacks women, he attacks us. When he attacks Muslims, he’s attacking us.”

Making Republican Party history, Trump vows to protect LGBTQ community

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Republican candidate vowed to ‘protect LGBTQ citizens’ but party platform remains opposed to gay marriage and transgender bathroom access

Republican candidate vowed to ‘protect LGBTQ citizens’ but party platform remains opposed to gay marriage and transgender bathroom access