The LGBTQ community has reason to worry about what a Donald Trump presidency means for equality, considering the policies he has pledged support for, such as the First Amendment Defense Act (FADA), and the antigay extremists he has chosen to surround himself with of late.
Trump managed to net just 14 percent of the LGBTQ vote, down from previous Republican presidential candidates who in years past managed to grab around 20 percent of the voting bloc.
Yet even still, as he did on the campaign trail with a nod to the community in his fear-mongering Republican National Convention speech and by holding up an LGBT pride flag, he is trying to convince us he is not the big bad wolf in grandma’s clothing. He is not coming for us, not really. Certainly not when it comes to the hard won right of marriage equality.
Trump called the issue “settled” during a recent “60 Minutes” interview, despite previously promising to go after gay marriage, calling the ruling making it the law of the land “shocking.”
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Not everyone is buying it, including Jim Obergefell, the plaintiff who brought the landmark case to the Supreme Court.
“He flips on pretty much everything he says,” Obergefell told BuzzFeed News. “Saying it’s settled law — that doesn’t mean anything.”
“Roe vs. Wade, a woman’s right to choose, that’s been settled law for 43 years, and the Republican Party continues to chip away at it, trying to overturn it,” he argued.
He worries primarily that Trump will make far-right Supreme Court picks, as he has said he would and as vice president-elect Mike Pence has confirmed, which would find little opposition now that the House and Senate are both in Republican control.
“There’s one vacancy at the moment. It seems likely that one or two more could retire. Regardless of [Trump’s] personal feelings, his party, his Congress, wants very conservative justices,” Obergefell said.
He is also concerned by Trump’s list of judges he has said he would consider appointing.
“I’m afraid that’s who will be nominated and confirmed and that will change the course of our country for decades to come,” Obergefell said. “I really am afraid about that.”
