Donald Trump is still trying to pretend to be a friend to the LGBTQ community, holding up an upside down rainbow pride flag with “LGBTs For Trump” crudely scrawled across it at a rally in Greeley, Colorado on Sunday.
He unfurled the flag shortly after walking onto the stage, before passing it to someone in the crowd. He did not make any comments about the flag or about the LGBTQ community afterwards, instead launching into his rhetoric around vote rigging, asking the crowd if they think the ballots will actually be properly counted.
Whoever wrote on the pride flag was obviously unaware that red goes on top and purple on the bottom. Ironically, a gay Trump supporter attacked a man at a North Carolina rally for holding up the American flag upside down, which he was doing as a sign of the country being in distress. Fitting then that the pride flag should similarly displayed considering the outcomes that might result for the LGBTQ community from a Trump presidency.
Trump has surrounded himself with anti-LGBTQ advisers, not least of which is his vice presidential pick Mike Pence, which cost him the support of the Log Cabin Republicans. He also supports the First Amendment Defense Act (FADA), which would allow for discrimination based on religiously held beliefs, and said he would overturn same-sex marriage, appoint far-right judges like Antonin Scalia.
Never Miss a Beat
Subscribe to our newsletter to stay ahead of the latest LGBTQ+ political news and insights.
He also spoke to a group of anti-LGBTQ preachers in Orlando on the two month anniversary of the shooting at Pulse.
So while there remain some die-hard gays for Trump, most of the LGBTQ community will see this as nothing but shameless pandering.
Watch the display below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcXKbEnV8NM
Meanwhile, on the same day, Hillary Clinton held a “Community for Unity” rally at The Manor, a gay club on the strip of Wilton Manners.
“This election will determine whether we continue the progress we’ve made or let it be ripped away,” Clinton said at the campaign stop. “We know Trump has promised that he’ll appoint Supreme Court justices who will overturn marriage equality and that he will repeal President Obama’s executive actions to protect LGBT people from discrimination.”
“We will work together to achieve an AIDS-free generation,” she added. “We will take on homelessness, bullying and violence, particularly youth homelessness, which disproportionately hurts LGBT kids. And we’re going to end the harmful practice of so-called conversion therapy.”
Watch her speech below.
