How Trump Self-Scored 36 Points on LGBTQ Rights — And Why It’s a Failing Grade

The administration has done nothing whatsoever to support LGBTQ rights

Tucker Lieberman

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Illustration of a man wearing a necktie, tripping down over a descending bar chart, in red.
Image by mohamed Hassan from Pixabay

On June 11, 2020, the Republican Party published a 36-point list with yet another Orwellian title so typical of this administration: “President Trump Has Taken Unprecedented Steps To Protect The LGBTQ Community.” It’s intentionally misleading. It’s propaganda.

Even without performing a fact-check, we can see that the document doesn’t describe 36 distinct actions. The list is repetitive.

Spotting the smaller number of points actually being made and fact-checking them, we can see that the administration hasn’t done anything in favor of LGBTQ rights.

Section #1, with sixteen points, claims that Trump has “kept his promise to protect LGBTQ citizens”

Trump made an Islamophobic statement including the word ‘LGBTQ’

Four points are dedicated to mentioning that Trump — four years ago, before he was even elected — once pronounced the acronym “LGBTQ.” Of course, the document omits the Islamophobic context of the remark. This is called “homonationalism.”

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Tucker Lieberman

Cult classic. Author of the novel "Most Famous Short Film of All Time." Editor for Prism & Pen and Identity Current. tuckerlieberman.com