Windy City Media Group Frontpage News

THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

home search facebook twitter join
Gay News Sponsor Windy City Times 2023-12-13
DOWNLOAD ISSUE
Donate

Sponsor
Sponsor
Sponsor

  WINDY CITY TIMES

Trump makes history with LGBT-inclusion in acceptance speech
2016 hopeful accepts Republican nomination, invokes Orlando shooting
by Chris Johnson, Washington Blade
2016-07-22

This article shared 549 times since Fri Jul 22, 2016
facebook twitter pin it google +1 reddit email


CLEVELAND — On the final night of the Republican National Convention, Donald Trump made history with an explicit pledge to protect LGBT people during his speech accepting the GOP presidential nomination.

Trump made the remarks when invoking the mass shooting last month at a gay nightclub in Orlando, saying the 49 left dead at the hands of a shooter who pledged allegiance to Islamic extremists were "wonderful Americans."

"Only weeks ago, in Orlando, Fla., 49 wonderful Americans were savagely murdered by an Islamic terrorist," Trump said. "This time, the terrorist targeted the LGBTQ community. No good, and we're going to stop it. As your president, I will do everything in my power to protect our LGBTQ citizens from the violence and oppression of a hateful foreign ideology. Believe me."

The audience at the Quicken Loans Arena applauded those words, a stark contrast to the Republican National Convention in 1992 when attendees chanted "Family Rights Forever/Gay Rights Never" during a speech delivered by anti-gay conservative leader Pat Buchanan.

In response to applause, Trump ad-libbed from his prepared remarks and said, "And I have to say, as a Republican, it is so nice to hear you cheering for what I just said. Thank you."

Those words mark the first time a Republican presidential nominee invoked the LGBT community in a positive way during an acceptance speech at a GOP convention. In 2012, then-Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney took the opportunity of his acceptance speech to "honor the institution of marriage" at a time when the LGBT community was seeking the legalization of gay nuptials.

Ric Grenell, a gay Fox News commentator and delegate from California pledged to Trump, told the Washington Blade on the floor of the Quicken Loans Arena he doesn't think "anybody is surprised" by Trump's inclusion of LGBT people in his acceptance speech.

"Trump has always made perfectly clear that he has a lot of gay friends, that he is totally for equality," Grenell said. "And for me, it's actually, I know we have a lot of work to do within the Republican Party on gay rights, but it's really emotional for me to be here on my seventh convention."

Recalling being present in 1992 listening to Buchanan, Grenell said, "To be here and to really see the acceptance, we made dramatic progress in four years. I just think it's time that the gay left leadership in Washington D.C. realize that we can remove this issue from being a partisan issue."

But Trump's enumeration of the LGBT community during his speech and pledge to protect LGBT people against terrorism stands in contrast to positions on LGBT rights he has staked out on the campaign trail.

Although Trump hasn't had as much vitriol for LGBT people as he has had for other minority groups, Trump has told social conservatives to "trust" him to oppose same-sex marriage, said he would "strongly consider" appointing U.S. Supreme Court justices who would reverse marriage equality and offered conditional support for the First Amendment Defense Act, a federal "religious freedom" bill seen to enable anti-LGBT discrimination.

Moreover, Trump delivered the LGBT-inclusive speech in the same week delegates at the Republican National Convention ratified a party platform considered the most anti-LGBT in history. Among other things, the platform seeks to overturn the Supreme Court decision for same-sex marriage through either judicial reconsideration or a constitutional amendment.

On Twitter, Hillary Clinton pointed out when Trump thanked his audience for supporting LGBT inclusion in his speech the Republican platform indicates support for widely discredited "ex-gay" conversion therapy.

Your party's official platform supports "conversion therapy," @realDonaldTrump. https://t.co/RhgfCSNSxR

— Hillary Clinton ( @HillaryClinton ) July 22, 2016

Later in his speech, Trump may have undercut his pledge to LGBT rights by recommitting himself to appoint conservative justices to the judiciary — a move critics contend could led to a reversal of the Supreme Court's decision on same-sex marriage.

"We are also going to appoint justices to the United States Supreme Court who will uphold our laws and our Constitution," Trump said. "The replacement of our beloved Justice Scalia will be a person of similar views, principles, and judicial philosophy. This will be one of the most important issues decided by this election."

Trump also singled out evangelical Christians — a group that has historically opposed the LGBT community — to thank them helping in winning the Republican presidential nomination, saying, "the support they've given me, and I'm not sure I totally deserve it, has been so amazing, and has been such a big reason why I'm here tonight."

To assist the evangelical community, Trump said he'd "work very hard" to repeal the 1954 Johnson Amendment, which prohibits tax-exempt organizations from endorsing or opposing political candidates. Undoing that language would "protect free speech for all Americans," Trump said.

While Trump pledged to the defend the LGBT community during his speech as opposed to seeking to marginalize it, the candidate did stoke fears about undocumented immigrants in the United States.

"Of all my travels in this country, nothing has affected me more deeply than the time I have spent with the mothers and fathers who have lost their children to violence spilling across our border," Trump said. "These families have no special interests to represent them. There are no demonstrators to protest on their behalf. My opponent will never meet with them, or share in their pain."

Invoking the names of individuals who were allegedly killed by undocumented immigrants in "sanctuary cities," Trump renewed his pledge to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border and said Clinton wants to pursue a policy that amounts to "mass amnesty, mass immigration and mass lawlessness."

"We are going to build a great border wall to stop illegal immigration, to stop the gangs and the violence and to stop the drugs from pouring into our communities," Trump said.

Chad Griffin, president of the Human Rights Campaign, pointed out on Twitter Trump's attacks on other minority groups in response to the LGBT inclusion in the candidate's acceptance speech.

LGBTQ people ARE women, Muslim, Latinx, Jews, Black, immigrants, those w/ disabilities. @realDonaldTrump has attacked & maligned all of us.

— Chad Griffin ( @ChadHGriffin ) July 22, 2016

Trump's pledge to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border was apparently the source of ire for a "Code Pink" protester who made it into the Quicken Loans Arena with a banner reading, "Build Bridges Not Walls." As she was being escorted out, Trump said, "How great are our police and how great is Cleveland?"

But the newly anointed Republican presidential nominee generally strived for a tone of inclusion throughout his speech. Although he maintained his priority would be "struggling citizens," he said he'd be "considerate and compassionate to everyone."

Introducing him on speech was his daughter Ivanka Trump, who made the case so heavily her father would champion gender equality she seemed as though she were speaking at a convention with Democrats as opposed to Republicans.

"There have always been men of all backgrounds and ethnicities on my father's job sites and long before it was commonplace you also saw women," Ivanka Trump said. "My father values talent. He recognizes real knowledge and skill when he finds it. He is colorblind and gender-neutral. He hires the best person for the job."

Closing his speech, Trump reinvigorated use of the slogan that helped propel him to win the Republican nomination to run for the White House against Clinton.

"So to every parent who dreams for their child, and every child who dreams for their future, I say these words to you tonight: I'm with you, I will fight for you, and I will win for you," Trump said. "To all Americans tonight, in all of our cities and in all of our towns, I make this promise: We Will Make America Strong Again. We Will Make America Proud Again. We Will Make America Safe Again. And We Will Make America Great Again."


This article shared 549 times since Fri Jul 22, 2016
facebook twitter pin it google +1 reddit email

Out and Aging
Presented By

  ARTICLES YOU MIGHT LIKE

Gay News

Chicago's LGBTQ+ Advisory Council sets a new course 2024-03-18
- Chicago's LGBTQ+ Advisory Council held its first meeting of the calendar year on Feb. 28 at City Hall in the Loop under the leadership of the recently appointed chair Jin-Soo Huh. The LGBTQ+ Advisory Council is ...


Gay News

NATIONAL Missouri measure, HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, judge, Texas schools 2024-03-15
- In Missouri, a newly proposed law could charge teachers and counselors with a felony and require them to register as sex offenders if they're found guilty of supporting transgender students who are socially transitioning, CNN noted. ...


Gay News

PASSAGES: Former Chicago Commission on Human Relations chair Clarence Wood 2024-03-13
- LGBTQ ally and former Chicago Commission on Human Relations (CCHR) Chair and Commissioner Clarence N. Wood died March 5. He was 83. Wood was born April 14, 1940, in Alabama. While primarily raised in Alabama, Wood ...


Gay News

Longtime LGBTQ+-rights activist David Mixner dies at 77 2024-03-12
- On March 11, longtime LGBTQ+ and HIV/AIDS activist David Mixner—known for working on Bill Clinton's presidential campaign but then splitting from him over "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (DADT)—died at age 77, The Advocate reported. ...


Gay News

LGBTQ+ Victory Fund remembers co-founder David Mixner 2024-03-12
--From a press release - Today, LGBTQ+ Victory Fund President & CEO Mayor Annise Parker released the following statement on the passing of LGBTQ+ civil rights activist and LGBTQ+ Victory Fund co-founder David Mixner: "Today, we lost David Mixner, a founding ...


Gay News

Florida settles 'Don't Say Gay' lawsuit 2024-03-11
- On March 11, the state of Florida settled a multi-year lawsuit against the so-called "Don't Say Gay" law, which limits how LGBTQ+ topics can be discussed and presented in schools, The Hill reported. The settlement agreement ...


Gay News

ELECTIONS 2024 Precious Brady-Davis says climate change is top issue as she runs to finish appointed MWRD term 2024-03-08
- Precious Brady-Davis, commissioner for the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District (MWRD), is one of several candidates running to fill three seats on the board in the March 19 election. Brady-Davis was appointed to the role last summer ...


Gay News

ELECTIONS 2024 MWRD's Marcelino Garcia discusses flooding, land use and LGBTQ+ inclusion 2024-03-08
- Marcelina Garcia, commissioner for the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District (MWRD), is one of several candidates in the running to fill three seats on the board in the March 19 election. Garcia, who chair's the MWRD's Finance ...


Gay News

NATIONAL Altercation, mpox research, Univ. of Fla., George Santos, tech battle 2024-03-08
- Video footage uploaded to Facebook showed an altercation between a state trooper and two prominent Philadelphia LGBTQ+ leaders, the Washington Blade reported, republishing an article from Philadelphia Gay News. Celena ...


Gay News

LPAC celebrates historic wins for LGBTQ+ candidates in Super Tuesday primaries 2024-03-06
- From a press release: Washington, DC—Today, LPAC,the nation's leading organization dedicated to electing LGBTQ+ women and nonbinary candidates to public office, proudly announces the outstanding victories of 67% of endorsed candidates ...


Gay News

Illinois's first openly gay elected official voices support for Cunningham 2024-03-05
- Judge Thomas Chiola, who served in the Illinois Circuit Court of Cook County from 1994-2009, has officially endorsed Justice Joy Cunningham for reelection to the Illinois Supreme Court. Chiola is the first gay man to be ...


Gay News

Sinema retiring from the U.S. Senate 2024-03-05
- Kyrsten Sinema—the bisexual U.S. senator from Arizona who recently switched from being a Democrat to an independent—announced that she will not run for re-election this year, ...


Gay News

WORLD Canadian politics, Australian murders, Finnish study, 'Anatomy' 2024-03-01
- Canadian conservatives are divided over an anti-trans policy that Alberta Premier Danielle Smith handed down in her province, The Guardian reported. The policy includes a ban on hormonal treatment, puberty ...


Gay News

Ghana parliament passes harsh anti-LGBTQ+ bill 2024-02-29
- On Feb. 28, Ghana's parliament unanimously passed a controversial anti-LGBTQ+ bill that has been condemned globally. The so-called Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Act, which was introduced in the parliament in 2021, not only criminalizes ...


Gay News

Anti-LGBTQ+ Republican McConnell to step down from leading U.S. Senate 2024-02-29
- U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) will step down from Senate leadership in November, having served in that capacity longer than any senator in history, The Advocate noted. McConnell has been a senator since 1985 and has ...


 


Copyright © 2024 Windy City Media Group. All rights reserved.
Reprint by permission only. PDFs for back issues are downloadable from
our online archives.

Return postage must accompany all manuscripts, drawings, and
photographs submitted if they are to be returned, and no
responsibility may be assumed for unsolicited materials.

All rights to letters, art and photos sent to Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago
Gay and Lesbian News and Feature Publication) will be treated
as unconditionally assigned for publication purposes and as such,
subject to editing and comment. The opinions expressed by the
columnists, cartoonists, letter writers, and commentators are
their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay,
Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature Publication).

The appearance of a name, image or photo of a person or group in
Nightspots (Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times
(a Chicago Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature
Publication) does not indicate the sexual orientation of such
individuals or groups. While we encourage readers to support the
advertisers who make this newspaper possible, Nightspots (Chicago
GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay, Lesbian
News and Feature Publication) cannot accept responsibility for
any advertising claims or promotions.

 
 

TRENDINGBREAKINGPHOTOS







Sponsor


 



Donate


About WCMG      Contact Us      Online Front  Page      Windy City  Times      Nightspots
Identity      BLACKlines      En La Vida      Archives      Advanced Search     
Windy City Queercast      Queercast Archives     
Press  Releases      Join WCMG  Email List      Email Blast      Blogs     
Upcoming Events      Todays Events      Ongoing Events      Bar Guide      Community Groups      In Memoriam     
Privacy Policy     

Windy City Media Group publishes Windy City Times,
The Bi-Weekly Voice of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Trans Community.
5315 N. Clark St. #192, Chicago, IL 60640-2113 • PH (773) 871-7610 • FAX (773) 871-7609.