And I think for a lot of Republicans they probably don’t agree with some of the language that’s in there that’s taking a few steps back, especially in the LGBT issues, but Donald Trump has said time and time again that it’s not the Republican Party that’s being voted on.
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Last night Donald Trump gave an acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention that was riddled with false claims and created to scare people into voting for him – in other words, it was pretty much what we’ve come to expect from him. What Trump said was “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”.
Even the candidate seemed surprised.
“And I have to say as a Republican, it is so nice to hear you cheering for what I just said”. Thiel described the transgender bathroom panic behavior as a “distraction,” but did so in such a vague way that it’s not clear whether he thinks state-level laws like those in North Carolina are bad or whether he thinks people just shouldn’t get upset about it.
Charles Moran, a 35-year-old gay delegate from the Los Angeles area pledged to Trump, said he’s “clearly unhappy” with the results of the platform, but said supporters of Sen.
Yet the NY billionaire has often spoken effusively about his friendships with gay people while avoiding anti-gay rhetoric that many other GOP candidates have embraced.
“Only weeks ago, in Orlando, Florida, 49 wonderful Americans were savagely murdered by an Islamic terrorist”, he said, choosing to ignore the fact that the shooter’s ties to ISIS were tenuous at best.
Yet in a first for a GOP convention, an openly gay speaker acknowledged his sexuality Thursday from the podium – and put fellow Republicans on the spot by saying he disagreed with parts of the platform.
“I am proud to be gay”, Thiel, who co-founded PayPal, said during a speech Thursday night.
As has been widely reported, this year’s official Republican party platform supports the unsafe practice of gay conversion therapy – specifically, it says that Republicans “Support the right of parents to determine the proper medical treatment and therapy for their minor children”.
He was greeted with wild cheers and extended applause as some delegations jumped to their feet – another striking moment for a Republican gathering.
Trump, who has said he’d nominate Supreme Court justices who might overturn gay marriage, has nonetheless spoken effusively about his friendships with gay people while avoiding anti-gay rhetoric that many other GOP candidates have embraced.
The convention has highlighted the many contradictions the party now has on gay rights. Yet, I worry there are those among us who will use that one line to justify supporting Trump.
“His hatred toward anybody is a huge concern”, said Jay Brown of the Human Rights Campaign. “When he attacks women, he attacks us. Radical Islam and Muslim-dominated countries want to kill you, but we don’t”.
Gay Republicans say that’s an attempt by left-leaning groups to blur the issues to help Democrats win elections and raise money.
“He has said that these issues should be dealt with at the state level and he has not been for the government forcing it on people”, Perkins told me of LGBT rights. This week, he attended a “Big Tent Brunch” on the convention’s sidelines, hosted by the American Unity Fund, a GOP group that promotes LGBT rights.
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Though that decision was disheartening, she told ThinkProgress that it was not representative of what she sees at the Republican Party’s changing attitudes toward LGBT inclusion.
